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Owner	Pose
Big Boss	SOUTHERN PORT TOWN, PUEBLO CORPORATE COUNCIL (California) EVENING There's a portion of the docks of a small, but clearly futurized port town that's 'old'. Old warehouses, without laser security and magic sniffers and drones. Human guards. A set of wooden docks that lead out onto the coast, where two mafiosos could go and only one would return. That means these warehouses don't contain much useful. Parts, maybe. They're not the main docks of the town, so they're basically abandoned at night. Which makes them the perfect place for a trade. Out on the docks, away from prying eyes, the Watch is pulling up through a pair of closed jeeps, and any personal transpotation means they have (teleporters are suggested to actually show up themselves, for potential ambush reasons). There's enough room just barely for both to park side to side, forming cover. One jeep contains the Watch, probably crammed inside, while the other contains their captives. Their contractor is on time. One large van, enough to take everyone they're handing over. A group of armed men and one man in a suit step out, allowing their negotiator to head over to the 'center' in front of a warehouse door. An Outer Heaven negotiator is in plain clothes. He opens the doors as his bodyguard remove out the family, and starts progressing them forward, proving they are who they say they are. The negotiators meet. The contractor has credsticks - the default currency, digital. The Watch has a scanner. The credsticks are legit. The air is tense. There's a low hum to the air. How are the Watch preparing?
Damocles	The suggestion for teleporters to just teleport themselves in is taken by Damocles, who prefers to teleport around anyway.  Travel via the Warp is kind of relaxing when you get the hang of it.  He appears in his usual flash of violet fire, appearing near the turn-off where the main road leads to the docks, and then walks the rest of the way. The meeting itself doesn't really concern Damocles too much.   They captured some people, and now they're giving the people to other people, blah blah blah.  Big Boss is handling the details.  Mostly Damocles is here just to find out what Big Boss's angle is.  Not that it really concerns Damocles, but he's curious, and so he's going to find out. In the meantime, the lack of magical scrubbers in the area means that the oversized sorcerer takes it upon himself to sniff out magical threats.  Damocles's connection to the Warp means that he can sense magical energy, which lets him play 'lookout' in a way that few others can.   He doesn't bother taking any high ground for this; Line of sight doesn't matter, only proximity.  So instead, he formulates a quick patrol path based on the layout of the warehouses and docks, and starts patrolling. And, because it's kind of boring work, he's also singing to himself. ~ Sittin' in the morning sun, I'll be sittin' when the evening comes...
Selene	Coming out of one of the Watch's jeeps is someone that looks less like an operative and more like someone on vacation. Bright, floral print shirt? Check. Cargo shorts? Double check. Messenger bag packed to the brim with assorted garbage? Triple check. Shades that make it harder for both herself and anyone else to see what she's looking at?      Of course. Somehow, she's one of the people accompanying the the negotiator, arms crossed over her chest while she toys with what looks like a red smartphone. It looks more like a toy than anything else, and her very appearance might make her look completely out of place next to all the negotiators, the captives, the guards, and the tense situation all around.      That's exactly what she wants. Selene appears disinterested, but she's keeping her eye on the Rotomdex intently. She's looking for connections to lights in the warehouse, waiting for an opportune moment to shut them down or put them on full blast (depending on if they're already on or off, respectively) if their contractor decides to double-cross them.
Ash Williams	A battered yellow Oldsmobile Delta rumbles into the beaten-down part of town. It follows behind the Jeeps. The exhaust is belching smoke, the windows rattling in time with the beat of something loud and equally old. It breaks off from the convoy and pulls into an alley on the way in, an uneven path between two aging buildings. The driver side door opens, thudding into the side of the adjacent building. "God damn it," says Ash, as he kills the ignition and with it, the radio. Exiting with him is a curtain of smoke thick enough to cast doubt on his ability to see the road, much less drive.      After a brief inspection of the damage to his door, he's satisfied. The trunk is popped. Out comes his duffel bag, clutched briefly in his elaborate prosthetic before he slings it over his shoulder. There's a landscaping tool and a few other goodies inside, but his trusty shotgun... that's holstered on his back, after an arrogant little twirl of the weapon.      Approaching the meeting point and the circle of vehicles, Ash would look like a dockworker, were it not for the butt of his gun rising above his shoulder, or the certainty with which he approaches. He flicks a small, smoldering thing to the side, just a moment after plucking it from between his lips.      Usually, in meetups like this, he's the buyer, and it's nowhere near as illegal as human trafficking. Now, he's the muscle. He'd... indulged in a few things, beforehand, to hype himself up. Despite everything he's put into his bloodstream, one way or another, there's concern evident on his face. Is this... okay?      His main means of preparation is standing around and looking imposing, which isn't something he's good at. Not in this context, anyway. He looks antsy.
Nova Terra	Nova is not taking the stealthy approach today. In this situation she feels it's better to be seen than not. To make anyone thinking about a potential double-cross reconsider their plans. To that end she rides in the jeep, staring out one of the windows as she cradles her canister rifle in her arms.     Once the jeeps stop and everyone piles out, Nova moves a short distance away. To the rear of course. Where she's likely to receive less attention, leaving her to her own devices. She chambers a round into her large rifle then lifts it to rest over her shoulder. Her eyes then stare intently at the other party, watching them closely. In the beginning, anyway.     As the deal plays out, looking more and more likely to succeed without incident, Nova turns her focus more outwards. She closes her eyes, stretching her psychic senses through well-practiced concentration. The good thing about doing this in such a remote location is there's few people in the area. That makes pinpointing anyone who's not supposed to be there a much easier affair for the telepath.
Starbound Flotilla	Stray thoughts find their way to Nova Terra when she seeks out "intent to crash the party". Is what she found intent to crash the party? It just seems to be opinions about the party, more accurately, but it's "somewhere". It could just be vagrants whining about suits on their usually empty docks. "...with the old Code Purple... Remember?" "...Correct... ...hatred for Aztechnology... ...not unwarranted..." "...Definitely kill all of those sun-worshippers someday..." "...for the sake of the poor and the destitute..." "Pressure is valved, sector inactive. Optics on three flock, six-plus birds. Sweep every ten, report. Wide area, continue to hold pressure." "Really, really hungry... Mmmmh."     Yeah, probably homeless wanderers if that last one is anything to go by.
Amelris Belthrone	Amelris Belthrone also comes out of one of the Watch's jeep, not wearing most of his usual clothing. He's wearing something more modern, according to what the place values with a black vest with some longer slacks, a pair of pince-nez stick on his nose, tightly nudged and covering his eyes. His ears are adorned with some jewelry as he steps out, keeping his hand on a canne that he's been lugging around for a while, the top of the stick having a nice, adorned jewel.      He eyes around the area, giving a look to the other place where the trade will happen, keeping his attention on the contractor's van. Lots of people, there. They aren't happy with them.      Amelris keeps his senses open, looking around and about the exchange. Something feels wrong. Is it the exchange? Or is something else going to swoop in? His feline ears rotates around, keepin and on the edge for any small noise that might be heard... or his sharper sight, keeping watch.
Big Boss	Damocles will find a trace of magical energy...but not at the docks directly. Up on a rooftop, somewhile away, there's enough energy for a mage to be present. Is it just someone minding their own business and pissing off rootops, or related? Selene can turn on or off the lights at will - they're currently on. It seems they turn off in an hour, usually. Nova gets three blips inside the warehouse. Amelris can hear the sound of an engine running inside. Ambush? Their man starts moving to make the trade. The family is grabbed, and the creds are taken. The family is brought towards the contractor's van. The muscle waves their guns. The scientist struggles in the movement. Ash can see clearly, he's not comfortable. Why are they doing this? The warehouse doors blow up, and in the explosion, on cue, the opposition negotiator starts rushing into the van, as the gunmen start spraying covering fire and move to get the prize Out Of There. The group has their credsticks... And a giant black van, bursting out of the warehouse, moving to knock the closest person to the negotiator - probably Ash - into the drink. A turret is on the back, piloted by a large tattooed woman, who moves to gun down the group. Several drones race out of the back, moving to fire pistol shots at anyone they can. They're going to sweep, kill, and run. The mage sniper on the roof prepares a spell through his rifle.
Nova Terra	Nova picks up on the traces of a number of minds in the area. Some seem to be homeless, which isn't unexpected. Though a few do catch Nova's attention. Some of them are close by. And another is speaking in military code. She might not understand all the meanings, but she recognises the patterns.     Nova turns to the closest unknowns, the ones in the warehouse. They'll be the easiest to confirm. Shifting her rifle off her shoulder and into her hands, Nova walks towards the building in question.     But before Nova has a chance to actually enter the structure, its door explode. Nova hits the deck, a bit of a surprised look on her face. The betrayal was not unexpected. The explosion-in-close-proximity kind of was. But as the giant van comes screaming out, Nova rolls to the side to avoid getting squashed underneath it. She quickly scrambles to her feet, starting to run for the nearest cover: A shipping container.     As the drones open fire in her direction, Nova dives behind the metal box, the bullets striking the ground and ricocheting off the container. Nova presses against her cover and rises once more. And once there's a lull in the fire, she leans out and brings her rifle up to aim. She snaps off several shots, each aimed for a different drone, before she ducks back behind her cover.
Damocles	It takes a moment for Damocles to pinpoint exactly where the spike of arcane energy is from, and a little longer for his eyes to focus in on them.  They are a ways out there.  By the time Damocles has pinpointed where they are, the gunfire has already started.  Guess it's a bit much to hope for that the mage is unrelated.  In another flash of violet fire, Damocles vanishes.  At the same instant, on the rooftop where the magisniper prepares his move, another flash of violet fire forms, and from it, Damocles steps out.  Staff held in front of him, eyes glowing dangerously under his shadowed hood. "Peekaboo." Damocles sees the rifle, and that's as much conformation as he needs that this guy with their enemy.  He lowers his staff, and channels a burst of repulsive force at the mage, the shockwave aimed to blast the mage clear off the roof.
Starbound Flotilla	"Sector is cooking! Pressure! Flock four, two hawks, eight-plus hornets!" "Floran HUUUUUUNTSSS!" "Starbound Actual descending, point one angels! Star Two, blades, blades!" "With utmost lethality and grace." "Star Four! Low and fast!" "I'm bringin' us low as we can go! Smite 'em hard!" "Star Three, I need numbers, resolve!" "Urgent. The target! Focus on the target! Coordinates out!" "Going hands-on, don't you worry." "Remember: Kill every last Aztechnology stooge."     Something screams out of low orbit so fast there's a sheath of plasma around it. Something like a cruise missile rockets forward so fast out of it that there's barely time to recognize it before it's heading towards the first Aztech van, the one they're taking the scientist to -- though thankfully he isn't quite in it yet. The mysterious thing closes fast. It's gleaming white and gunmetal gray, contoured like a tank, and bristles with turrets and articulated VTOL engines. The Vehemence II unloads death. Hard to even see the shining red teleport-drop light that ejects from its underside and lands in the thick smoke wherever its cruise missile has impacted. Someone's going for that VIP.
Ash Williams	Ash looks over his shoulder as Trahenil passes by. Where'd that guy come from? Confused, he makes another look to the pier--the direction he flicked that... no, that wasn't it. He must be another Watch guy, or maybe one of Boss' spooks. Oh, that's it. He's the Briefcase Guy. "Jesus," mutters Ash under his breath. Has he fucked up and actually gotten involved in something serious?      He hopes not. Then again... things like this usually have a pretty good paycheck attached. If you live. He settles his jaw and resolves not to be the extra that gets wasted when things inevitably go wrong.      For a moment, he makes contact with the scientist. It seems like it lasts forever. He doesn't want to go... and Ash just stands there, dumbly, for once without something to say. It ends when he puts an end to it himself, looking away. This... isn't cool. But what's he gonna do? Disrupt this whole thing? Stick his neck out for some random idiot? No way, Jose.      The explosion rattles the ground beneath him, but he stands his ground. Adrenaline takes over when the first bullet zips through him. He turns in time to see the van hurtling towards him. He reacts.      Ash leaps into the air--higher than anyone close to his age has any right to jump. Still, the approaching van catches his hip, and he cries out as he's driven into the windshield, rolling across it. Momentum carries him across the roof, seconds pass. The fingers of his intact hand clutch the edge of the windshield just in time to keep him from being thrown off.      It's then that he notices the gunner, and hurriedly shuffles off of the roof. "Shit!" Dangling haphazardly from the side of the van, Ash fumbles for the shotgun. Struggling to keep his hold, he manages to line up a shot on the gunner.
Selene	And then things start going loud. "Oh, you butt nuggets!" Selene shouts as she switches the lights closer to the Watch's crew off, trying to make her allies harder to see as she dives on the ground and narrowly avoids getting shot right through the collarbone. Slipping a pair of multi-colored balls off her belt, the trainer taps the buttons on each one, and out come a pair of strange animals!      The first, an obese dark blue bear/cat. The second, a black and orange cat-sized cat. "Those buttholes... Light 'em up!" Selene shouts to her Pokemon as she starts rolling across the ground to try and keep herself from getting lit up herself.     While Selene makes an ass of herself on the ground, the Snorlax picks up the Torracat as if on cue, holding it at the hip like a angry firehose while the cat begins spewing flames towards the guards on the ground. It winces as bullets dig into its flesh, but it seems to be capable of weathering those shots through its sheer size and excessive body mass! Selene, meanwhile, will just have to trust her allies have a handle on the strange third parties that destroyed the van.
Amelris Belthrone	Then shit start going straaaaight to the void. Before Amelris really had time to warn and comment about the sound of an engine, things already starts exploding. A van comes out, bursting with guns, followed by a flying airship opening up on the Van.      The Red Mage stares with his mouth gaping for a moment, flinching at the light of bullets firing, before charging forward without thinking too much. There's some VIP that do need some rescuing, since this contract is now purely and firmly voided. More importantly... they are in danger, from thoses missiles fired at that van. They are periliously close.      Amelris draw a blade out of the canne, a flick of a wrist unties the gem at the end of it, sending it flying around him as he dash for the VIP proper in a burst of speed. "GET DOWN!" He shouts sliding off to cover the family with himself with the intention to bring them awya from the fighting proper that just erupted. This IS a harbour, after all. He barely notices the teleporter -- even if he did, he wouldn't really know what it /is/ beyond 'this is probably not good'.
Big Boss	The gunship appears. Before the VIP is in range, the van is blasted to bits, sending the fixer scraped backwards injured, and the blast knocking back the VIP and his family, leaving them open. The guards in the van are all dead, and the van is scrap metal. The Runner Crew was not prepared for this. As people start shooting down their drones, the rigger scrambles to get out some more, but then there's shouting inside the van, as a shotgun blast hits the gunners' shoulder, knocking her off her aim and injuring her badly. "FUCK! Someone just took out the boss! We gotta bail!" The driver shouts back. "We can't fucking bail, this is an Azzie job! You want to bail on the Azzies?!" A turret blast is fired at the Flotilla's gunship. It's not enough. It might ding their armor, but they weren't prepared for 'a gunship', and they're freaking out. The mage sniper tries to get a lead on the cockpit of the gunship as he spots it, cursing under his breath. Damocles appears before he can take the shot. The sniper startles at the reaction, and then goes flying backwards to street level, saved only by an armor spell - but his leg is broken, and he's not moving anytime soon. Finally, Selene breaks out the fire. "SHE HAS A FLAMING CAT! ABORT, ABORT!" The drivers are going to start trying to flee, as their buddies get set on fire and their hull starts to turn to slag. They want to circle around and pick off the group when they move to leave - not deal with the gunship. If they're not taken out here, they'll be back. The fixer's grabbing his phone as he lies burnt and bleeding. He's trying to call in reinforcements.
Nova Terra	As she's sticking behind her cover to avoid being riddled by bullets, a warning crackles in through Nova's visor, "Incoming high speed object from orbit!"     Nova looks up, "What?" Too late. Nova instinctively drops again as there's another explosion. Though this one wasn't quite as close. As she turns to look at the source, she realises it was the van that their former-client was going to use to try and evac the VIP. Nova is definitely surprised at this point, "Wait, did they just blow up their own van!?"     It quickly becomes clear though that no, they did not. Another interested group has decided to interfere. They feel familiar. And they want the VIP... Probably.     Nova brings her rifle up to aim in that direction. Through her scope she can see the smoke left behind by the ordinance and the van it exploded. It makes isolating the new arrivals difficult. But Nova still has view of the VIP. She shifts her aim in his direction. She can see Amelris dive into view and move to get the family somewhere safe.     Tch. Nova turns her aim back towards the remaining van. She can feel their desperation and desire to escape. Emboldened by the drop in their return fire, Nova steps out and starts firing round after round towards the vehicle, simply trying to wreck it and its occupants before they can get too far. Her rifle can punch through Siege Tank armor. She doubts this vehicle is any better equipped.
Starbound Flotilla	There's something red in the smoke. A crimson armored EVA gaunetlet snatches out at Amelris' wrist to interrupt him getting the VIP. A crusty-old-man voice sounds through helmet acoustics. "Sorry there admiral, we need this guy for stuff." That's when the crimson battle-astronaut tries to yank in close and blast a hefty pistol over Amelris' shoulders. Shoulder-rest, ready. Open fire on the retreating car. Should make plenty of painfully ringing ears too! And then he tries to sort of shoulder-check him out of the way to get a grip on the VIP. How damaging this exchange will be depends entirely on how invested Amelris is about to get.     Gunship's stopping above the trade site. No way that can be good!
Damocles	Damocles peeks over the roof to check on his target, but once he confirms that the guy is down and not getting back up, he decides to leave him.  Sure, the guy is a mage and could still cause problems, but given that a third party just entered and most of that guy's team is getting ruined, odds are he'll cut his losses and run.  Which suits Damocles just fine. In the meantime, something caught his attention.  While the mage went flying over the edge, the gun he was using slammed into the wall on the edge of the roof.  Damocles picks it up and inspects it briefly.  The guy was trying to use it as some kind of long-range magic focus, which is intriguing.  However, SPACE MARINE HUEG is a thing.  With his armored gauntlets, the weapon is a little too small for him to reasonably use. Fortunately, he isn't the only mage working this op tonight.  A quick conversation over the radio, and he arranges to deliver it to Amelris.  He takes a moment to give a respectful wave to the downed mage, and then, one again, a flash of violet fire, and he's gone. He reappears, near Amelris, just in time to see the cat-man-mage accosted by the red armored attacker.  Given that the attacker is in close proximity to Amelris, Damocles opts not to use any of his spells.  Chaos magic can be a little...imprecise at times.  Instead, he tosses the rifle down at Amelris's feet, saying, "Catch," Idly, mostly to get the red armored man's attention.  At the same time, he slams the top of his Force Staff, crackling with gathered energy, straight at the armored man's back.  Force weapons are particularly good at breaking armor, which is exactly what Damocles is aiming to do.
Ash Williams	The frenzied attempts of the driver to escape are making life difficult for Ash. Every juke, brake and list of the vehicle slams his gut into the hard plastic siding. He's starting to get upset.      He musters his strength on a straightaway section of road, heaving himself to the roof of the van. Standing at last on two feet, he attempts to deal with the gunner. His prosthetic hand is outstretched with angry speed. He'll just pluck her out of that damn seat, and throw her out--only that isn't what happens. As her aim is thrown wide, the barrel of her heavy gun strikes him in the chest.      Ash is flung from the van, striking the asphalt and rolling across it like a stone across a pond. He is still, long enough for anyone looking to assume that might be it for him. Until... "Aaaah... God..!" With a cough and a sputter, he shakily rises. Shake it off.      The van he'd clung to is rapidly shrinking in the distance. Not his problem anymore. But there are several new developments here that definitely /are/ his problem. Sure, he could just bounce... but that'd get everyone pissed off at him. At least he's still alive. Ash breaks into a sprint, aiming to make up lost distance.      Unfortunately, Ash is not in the best shape. He manages to clear about half of the distance between himself and the gunship before he's overtaken by wheezing and panting. Alright. That's decidedly un-groovy. But... he did park the Delta nearby, didn't he?      A few moments later, a yellow Oldsmobile roars into the battlefield, tires screeching. It's heading straight for the warehouse, and Ash is in that mindset where he doesn't really care who he's raming. He doesn't recognize the helmeted guy, or the catman. But--he does have a radio. As the two struggling figures grow ever closer, he issues a warning over the radio. "Hey, uh... 'team.' I'm gonna ram the shit out of anyone I don't recognize... so you better be ready... because I'm not insured."
Selene	"Hey, hey, hey! That's our guy you're snatching!" Selene shouts towards the Flotilla, scurrying towards whatever cover she can find in that warehouse. Even a discarded container will do. Meanwhile, as the Snorlax sweeps its fire across the ground troops, it soon ends up turning some of those flames upon the gunship targetting their quarry.
Big Boss	Nova's guns tear apart the van. The gunner is torn apart, while the rigger and the driver both dive out and move to book it on foot. The gunship is hopefully enough distraction for them to bail and never, ever take another Aztechnology job again. If they survive that long.
Amelris Belthrone	A Red Mage is proficient in multiple things. Surprisingly, hand-to-hand combat is not one of them, beyond the very basic things. Amelris' eyes widen at the unfamiliar armoured figure, grabbing him by the wrist and shoulder checking him straight up. He gasp out some air out of his chest, letting out a sharp annoyed, pained gasp at the CLOSE RANGE weapon fired near his folded ears. Fortunately, he's saved by Damocles, at least giving him the change to push himself back, sliding away out of the smoke and... grabbing the rifle out of the air with his free hand, giving it a blank look. He can barely hear a thing with THAT FREAKING GUN fired next to one of his ear, it's screwing up his balance on that front.      That'll be a thing to check out a bit later when he's got time to mess around.      The rifle vanish with a small puff of aether, spinning his pooled Rapier and Gem together to unleash an aimed blast of purple energy, followed by a second one, both aimed at the Red Guy. The one that is not himself. "THAT WAS RUDE, BY THE WAY, FIRING A GUN NEXT TO MY HEAD!"
Nova Terra	While she's busy trying to take out the remaining offenders who tried to double-cross them, Nova barks into her visor's radio, "Griffin, get down here and handle that gunship!"     In the skies above the city, Reigel, Nova's second-in-command, quietly watches the battle playing out below. An overhead view of the docks runs on a large screen suspended from the roof of the bridge he stands in. But soon enough the order to intervene comes in and Reigel's reply is simple, "Understood." He turns to one of the bridge crew, calmly saying, "Bring us into weapons range." To another he orders, "Prepare a missile volley. Proximity detonation. Plus one hundred meters. Let's avoid friendly fire."     The invisible Terran stealth-destroyer, Griffin, descends through the sky. It doesn't take too long until it's within range of the hovering gunship as it's range is quite far. At which point, Reigel simply says, "Fire."     The Griffin's cloak shimmers as a volley of missiles fire out from its belly. They arc through the air, curving down towards the Flotilla gunship floating above the battle site. But they don't hit directly. Instead they detonate early, explosions briefly lighting up the sky above the ground elites. Too far to do much more than hit them with a light breeze. But close enough to hopefully catch that gunship on the edge of some of those explosions.
Starbound Flotilla	George's back makes a funky crackling noise as Damocles' swing comes down! He turns around, shaking one hand helplessly. ".../Ow/. Actually, wait, can you do that every week? I think a spine-bit just finally settled in." He's talking absolute shit, that actually did injure him. This does seem to have "woken up" his agility though. Because suddenly it's nearly impossible to hit the man. A glance to one side. Deep breath. He goes limp. Ash's car slams into him and, instead of annihilating his bones like it should have, he just sort of limply falls over the hood, through the window, and towards the driver seat, where he tries to sort of crunch Ash into his own seat cushions. "Nice car! I'm a fan. Watch the traffic though." He slams the brakes, fast enough to hard-dodge a brutal rush of purple energy from Amelris that barely skates over the hood and also to add a couple miles worth of use to the pads and tires, and then shoves the door open and tumbles out.     The gunship takes the flames dead on. A series of supercooling vents eject heated slag, but the vehicle itself seems to have sort of temperature-parried the light maneuver. It didn't parry the incoming Griffin; shield layers shatter and emitters overheat and overload on its surface. "Star Six, are you finished /playing/? They're interfering. Star Two, blades. Star Five, kill everyone. Star Three, get the VIP some distance."
Starbound Flotilla	Seft, in full gleaming, seam-glowing powered plate armor, slams into the ground through a short-range teleport right between Amelris and the VIP he was so near, and tries to shield bash him with a swipe of the heavy tower shield so hard that it could knock someone a dozen feet in an arc. "Determined. Get back and stay away!" Her robotic voice calls out! Even Amelris probably can understand the determined glare on the shining eyes on her screen-visor.
Starbound Flotilla	No more fucking around. Moonfin, the fishman samurai, is on the field, in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. He strides towards Damocles now that George is free of the melee. "As our race indulges superior beliefs of pacifism, it is my first honorable duty to tell you the wisest place to be is beyond my blade's reach. The second is to demonstrate my reach."     He is now behind Damocles. His katana clicks back into its sheath the moment an observer might realize whether that swipe connected...!
Ash Williams	Holy shit! There's a guy flying through his window. As David Lee Roth's solo blasts from his speakers, he manages to wheeze out a response when George's feet crush his solar plexus. "Thanks..." Now it's going to be an actual fight, and not just vehicular manslaughter. That's gonna mean effort, and possibly getting hurt... That's lame.      Ash slams on the brakes, opens the door, and rolls out, not bothering to kill the ignition. The music--far too loud for safe driving--fills the air of the warehouse. The duffel bag, caught between his stomach and the ground, is opened. Zzzzip. Click. Ash's red prosthetic snaps off. The stump it leaves behind is quickly occupied by a whole-ass chainsaw. With one arm, he latches the drawstring against the leather strap of his shotgun holster. As he rises, the engine on the landscaping tool growls to life, and the carbon-tipped teeth become a blur of motion.      With his shotgun in onehand and his chainsaw... taking the place of his other, he advances on George, taking up the spot beside Amelris. "Hey man, I had a paycheck riding on this. How come you crashed our party?" VrrrRRRR! He makes a lateral slash, aimed at George's legs.
Damocles	The sudden slash across his back forces Damocles to stumble forward, keen sword edge cutting through his magical barriers and powered armor to carve the Astartes flesh underneath. Damocles stumbles forward one step, then spins around rapidly, raising his staff in a defensive posture.  His glowing eyes narrow a little bit at his new foe.  Is this the same guy who shot him with a goddamned arrow last time?  He doesn't remember, so he's going to pretend it is. "Thank you for the warning.  As -my- race indulges in war and death as its core pillar of existence, allow me, as a dishonorable heretic, to tell you to *suck bloodthirster dick.*" This new foe isn't near any allies, so Damocles can cut loose a little bit.  His body glows with a violet, chaotic aura as he channels a surge of Warp energy towards Moonfin.  There is no converting this energy, as Damocles pours raw, chaotic Warp energy at his enemy, which manifests as a surging wave of glowing purple and green fire, aimed to wash over the cyan samurai.
Starbound Flotilla	The gunship's articulated surface roils with weapons. "Floran huuuuuunt!" The weapons go wild. "Everyone get off of Floran prey! Prey-trash can't match Ssstarbound air sssuperiority!" What comes down is nothing short of an outright bombing. Bristling turrets open fire and sweep the dock. A massive railgun unfolts and points squarely up. Drive the Flotilla off? Unlikely. Fire is replied to with heavy-caliber gunfire, but the ship above is kindly asked to give some space through the language of a tungsten slug that blasts into the heavens surrounded by an envelope of plasma, trying to pierce the ship above at the origin site of those missiles!     The gunship is effectively driven to move though, albeit partially by the recoil of its own roof-mounted superweapon. It looks like, rather than moving, it's /landing/?
Amelris Belthrone	That Tower Shield base seemed simple to her but to Amelris, that was like being hit by a truck at the worse moment possible. Not /literaly/, like Ash have been but it feels that way. The Red Mage's body is laucnhed straight to the side, rolling back on the ground and slamming loudly and uncomfortably against a concrete pillar. Sorry, Ash, Amelris was right next to you and now he's not.      "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Amelris' voice levels out, his ear popping back into hearing condition as he backflips up back to his feet, staggering a bit. His back is going to KILL him later, more than it already does now. Aether condenses around his held gem, firing out into a blast of lightning aimed at Seft's direction, avoiding Ash before he leaps up to land against what he slammed against, unloading a blast of fire in the same manner as he gains some altitude. He's got a plan, there.
Selene	"Air superiority? But your thing's too big to fly!" Selene callls out to the gunship, her bravado cut short as she resumes fleeing behind whatever cover she can find while her Pokemon have to deal with actually getting shot at. The larger bear cat hunkers down protectively over the fire-spewing cat, shielding its smaller charge from the slugs raking across its body and drawing increasingly agitated roars from it.      "Not good... But if we can't burn it down, then... Lets try pinning it down our own way!" Signaling to the Snorlax with a confusing series of hand motions, the creature somehow seems to understand as it flings the Torracat over to Selene, already popping opening one Pokeball to withdraw the cat and exchange it for a spiky-headed and similarly obese purple thing.      Said purple thing gets right to work, bounding off the Snorlax's hands from a volleyball-like bounce, then divebombs towards the gunship while stretching out into a bed of ghostly spikes aimed to pierce right into the machine from above!
Starbound Flotilla	George's agile maneuverability means that he winds up not losing those two annoying knees, but rather kicking off of the blade with a heel, flipping in a way that seems to casually disbelieve gravity. "Only reason that matters: Guy's got an invitation to a /bigger party/! The fancy, international kind!" He calls out. Swipe him good enough to make him drop the pistol though. When he lands, he's already got his electrified baton out, trying to jab the crackling melee weapons straight into Ash in a series of heavy thrusts and overhead swipes.
Starbound Flotilla	Amelris blasts lightning and fire over the knight-princess, who falls to one knee from the pain. "GHHHHKKKKNNNRRRRHHHH!" Her voice module gushes static. Then her face takes a more determined expression. "Determined. True good is done in the world... without anyone's sanction!" She slams her shield into the ground, discharging the excess electricity. Despite her gratuitously tanky build, her offensive options at range are still surprisingly effective. Throwing axes -- a pretty dangerous collection of them! -- swing towards Amelris, trying to lodge in his chest, to ground him and force him to take things on here on the earth!
Nova Terra	The sound of dock being ripped up by gunship fire is what draws Nova's attention back to the battle playing out. It seems like the survivors of those who ambushed them will have to be dealt with later. For now, Nova focuses on avoiding being turned into a stain, diving for cover behind a collection of i-beams. Glancing over the top, she looks at the gunship as it gets closer to the ground. Through her radio she reports, "They might be landing. Probably to evac the VIP." She considers how to deal with the ship... Looking over at some nearby cargo containers, Nova thinks for a moment...     "Griffin, give me some cover fire!"     Up in the sky, the invisible Griffin moves to try and avoid return fire. But it's not quite as agile in an atmosphere as in space. The railgun shot hits the side of the ship, visibly showing the damage as the cloaking field in that section briefly fails. The hyper-velocity round rips a scar through the structure, causing smaller, contained explosions and sparking components.     On the bridge, the hit is felt as the ship shakes. One of the bridge crew reports, "Partial hit! Port side!"     Reigel remains calm as he orders, "Contain the damage. Disengage cloak and shift the power to the thrusters. Take us closer and prepare firing solutions for the cannons."     A blue light washes through the air at the point that that gunship's round had hit, the avian-like shape of the stealth starship becoming visible. Its rear thrusters burn brighter as it angles down, speeding up to close the distance. A number of turrets mounted across its surface spin around, barrels rising to aim at the gunship below. They then begin to fire, solid chunks of metal rapid firing out of the gauss cannons and raining down on the Flotilla's ship.
Starbound Flotilla	SHWING! Moonfin's stance holds fast. "First Sea Hylotl Style: Unbroken Shores." The blast of fire comes rushing, and Moonfin slams his blade into the ground and hoists what seems to be the entire segment of the dock's concrete, staked on the end of the blade, and used as an ad-hoc shield. "Did I not profess the superiority of the Hylotl before this foolish effort of yours? Let me demonstrate it more thoroughly."     The whole-ass slab comes flying out of the fire towards Damocles, threatening to shatter on him or at least barrage him with shrapnel. It's a cover; Moonfin is hiding /behind/ the slab, attached to it, and leaps in with another hefty slash as soon as he's got a chance!
Starbound Flotilla	"Bandit. Star One on-station." Albert's scarred, war-torn monkey-man face pops up if the Griffin accepts incoming transmissions, addressing them. Surely Nova can tap into that too. "I don't care what reasons you have for defending this status quo. Not worth a tungsten round through your reactor. Leave or die. First and final warning."     The gunship lands. The heavy engines lock against the ground. Huge semi-robotic treads form below. No, they weren't just landing... they were /converting/. The VEHEMENCE II has converted into a heavy tank and artillery platform! Now with greater lateral movement, it courses over the surface of the docks, slamming through one of the buildings entirely to evade the spiking attack from Selene's Pokemon. "Isss not too big for thisss though! Come here! Ssstop moving prey-animalsss around! Isss going to turn them into RRRRROAD KILL!!" Biteblade slams reverse and the whole thing rips backwards to try to grind the pokemon into the dirt. Meanwhile, the railgun has proper bracing. It can open fire in tandem with several other heavy guns now that the ship above is more clear! And, sadly, suffer huge dents and even the explosive failure of several subsystems in the tank, as the ship brutalizes them.
Selene	"Prey-animals? Hey, Slunch's eaten plenty of prey bigger than-I don't know how big you really are!" Selene barks out in response to Biteblade, cringing at sudden crush of metal. The Gengar's mouth opens in surprise as the VEHEMENCE brings its mighty frame down onto it, pinning it to the ground and seemingly flattening it underneath cold space metals. It takes a little while for the ghost Pokemon to slide out from underneath that crushing, flattened and bruised, but still able to pull itself together nonetheless.      "Good thing Chuggins is already dead probably... But this isn't gonna work if it keeps avoiding everything!" Visibly puzzled now, Selend taps her fingers on her head a few times as she does something resembling strategizing once more. "Way too fast on its feet, but if it's down here with us, then... Tornado tag team! Take out the legs! Treads. Wheels. Uh.!" She snaps her fingers, squinting briefly to try and figure out what she's looking at. "... Just aim at the biggest, fattest part! If you want roadkill, then you've got road!"     A beat, and then she follows it up. "And... Kill!" The Gengar's normally wide-faced grin shifts to a duller frown briefly, clearly not impressed with that.. Whatever that was. Nevertheless, the pair of fat things charge for the land tank once more, but they actually aim their strikes this time from different angles. The Gengar, tricky thing that it is, leaps up, reappears below itself, then dives at the railgun from above with that same spiking maneuver, albeit with one massive spike made of its body. THe Snorlax, meanwhile, goes for the treads themselves, trying to stop the tank right in its tracks and lift it overhead like some sort of psychotic fistfighter!
Damocles	Damocles can see the ambush coming, but doesn't actually move to avoid it, instead swinging his staff forward like a hammer to slam into the slab, shattering it, but doing little to deflect the follow-up attack that catches his armor again, tearing through the magical barriers and slicing his armor, leaving a nasty gash across the center of his armor. "No, you did a perfectly good job of explaining it.  So allow me to explain my position." Taking the hit was part of the calculated risk he took, drawing Moonfin in just close enough.  He raises his staff high, the Eye of Tzeentch bristling with gathered energy as he brings it down suddenly, the bottom of the staff crashing against the ground below him with a crack that rings like a clear bell across the whole dock. In the echo of the sound, a fissure forms in the air.  Something that you don't see, but feel, like a space a mortal mind refuses to acknowledge.  An instant later, the fissure widens, and from it pours Warp energy.  Not channeled as before, but raw, unfiltered power of the Warp, flooding into a universe completely alien to it.  The warp energy appears like violet fire, and is both deafening and still completely silent, the sound it makes not heard, but felt emotionally, like manic terror and raw hate, distilled into a plasma that now swirls around in an angry vortex.  Damocles uses his staff to shape the flood of raw power, spinning it into a twisting roil of Warp energy, aimed to encircle Moonfin and rip his foe apart with the unrefined power of Chaos.
Nova Terra	The message from the Flotilla gunship plays through the bridge speakers. Reigel listens, watching the battle play out below on the large screen. He can see the gunship land and proceed to transform. The realisation of the heightened stability this provides does not escape him. But he can also see Nova's status in the bottom of the display. From this he is able to anticipate her plan. As such, he moves a robotic hand to press a control, replying to the Flotilla, "We do not protect the status quo. We protect our CO. Anything more and you'll have to talk to her about it." Reigel releases his finger and then orders, "Break away. We've done what we needed to."     The Griffin banks, pulling away from the battle. It's no fighter, but is apparently still able to move fast enough for those railgun shots to just pass by its hull without hitting. As it flies higher, light washes over its form once more as it quickly disappears from view and sensors.     As for Nova. Well, she's a bit busy concentrating to follow up on her subordinates words and go into detail. As right now she's standing atop a collection of stacked cargo containers. An aura of psychic energy is flared up around her. And floating in the air behind her is the numerous large i-beams that she had previously been taking cover from. Surrounded in that same aura.     Pushing her hands forward, Nova sends the floating beams flying. They zip through the air, before turning and slaiming their considerable weight down towards the Flotilla gunship-turned-tank. Most are trying to hit the machine directly. But some are seeking to embed themselves in the ground around it, to try and restrict the vehicle's movements and prevent it from running anyone over.
Amelris Belthrone	Well, that flying craft landing and transforming into a land warmachina is /certainly/ making this a whole lot easier. Amelris, on top of some of the containers near them, crouches down to give himself some balance and keeping his mind on the fight. They sound like they know /perfectly/ what they want to do with this.      An axe is thrown at him the minute he leaps off from his high perch, vaulting himself off to hone himself against the rampaging artillery tank. The axe cuts against his side, letting a small spray of blood arc follow him in his flight. His sword flash in mid-air, pooling his magical energy into the blade as he aims down to connect directly against the tank, pushing his magically-enhanced weapon against a part that seems fragile or vulnerable -- like the base of that railgun, for example.      "HYAH!" Amelris then calls out, unloading out another burst of lightning through his blade after, he hope, he managed to at least pierce between a few plates his flat blade between. He can't take out a whole machine like this easily but he can make it's life worse.
Ash Williams	Ash seems quite annoyed by George's response. An invitation to a bigger party? "I see how it is," he says as he focuses the momentum from his last attack. He brings up the chainsaw for a guarding motion. "Working for the Man, huh? Gotta brush the little guy aside. Is that it?!"      His 'righteous' diatribe is cut short. He manages to block one of George's swings! Unfortunately, his chainsaw is definitely metal--as is the base of his prosthetic. The stun baton electrocutes Ash. He staggers backwards, forced into a defensive posture. He hates being on the defensive. It means he has to think.      "Hey," he says to Amelris, "Get a load of this!" He has some totally badass counterattack in mind. Unfortunately, his mind isn't anywhere near clear enough to follow through. He brings his saw up for a block, forgetting again the risk of electrocution. "Check this shit out!"      'This shit' translates into getting electrocuted. Again. He is knocked back, colliding with the Delta, almost forced off of his feet, were it not for his supernatural sense of balance and general durability. After being thoroughly embarrassed, all he can to is struggle to regain his sense of balance.      Once he finds it, he capitalizes. Ash makes a feint with his chainsaw. It's clumsy, and slow-intentionally. The moment it looks like there's an oppportunity for riposte, he blasts with both barrels of his shotgun.
Starbound Flotilla	Selene's animals grapple with and HOIST the massive tank. "Star Four! Pressure on twelve! Wings out, square up! Star Five! Incoming above!" The massive turret is targeted for another spike! And since it can't dodge now... The whole thing spins rapidly and CROSS-COUNTERS the divekick, spinning rapidly to try to slap the Gengar brutally with its barrel while it's about to hit the main body!     The front treads shift. Four hefty segments emerge above, and one below. TWO TITANIC FISTS! The massive tank grapples hard with the huge Snorlax, fingers around claws, trying to press it into the ground and then toss it straight through one of the nearby walls if it can overpower the beast!     Damocles has annihilated that entire segment of the docks. When it's done, it looks almost as though Damocles has utterly annihilated Moonfin. A few shavings of his armor seem to be all that remain. Until Moonfin's voice is heard: "Despite all I have said..." His blade can be heard clicking into its sheath behind Damocles. "This has never been anything personal." Oh, right: He did a huge swipe just a moment ago! "Sixth Sea Hylotl Style: Instant Storm." Again?!     While the gunship-tank wrassles the Snorlax, it's being barraged from the side! Huge beams slam into it, provoking explosions as fuel lines rupture, crumpling through shield layers and breaking the vessel's emitters with a sense of finality. "Shields down! I'm reading heavy fuel leaks! BITEY! PUT EVERY MISSILE WE HAVE DOWNRANGE ON THEM!" And a huge swarm of missiles take off, trying to simply blanket Nova's general area in a huge wave of explosions, targeting her significant psychic aura and every surrounding area.     Several of those turrets break apart, shattered by lightning. It's only when Seft suddenly arrives, slamming onto the tank from above, that the lightning is intercepted, channeled like a lightning rod into her shield. "GHHHHHNNNNNNRRRRRRKKKKKK!" More static. "Determined. I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!" When it clears, it's also clearer that she's yanked the VIP while she wasn't being engaged, but they're still on the tank! As long as the Flotilla is defeated before they take off, the VIP can be recovered. Seft slams her shield down onto the tank, charging up its PSIONIC ENERGY EMITTERS! The turrets that swivel on Amelris suddenly gush flame bolts, frost bolts, electrical bolts... A full suite of elemental hazards!     Speaking of electricity, George has just about run out. "Hey, hey, hey!" George says, plastering smugness across his face. "The Man? No, this is bigger. Guy's got a date with /the market/. The kind of date where one of you gets detained and tried, and the other one gets a sweet-ass pine box for free. Can you imagine that little nerd being a key figure in killing this world's whole, like, economy? I /can't wait/." He seems to be in the flow of this melee, which is why he goes to parry the chainsaw and instead eats buckshot dead-on, blasted back onto his ass. He looks like he's just beefed it and died for a moment, before a couple grenades roll to Ash's feet and detonate in a firestorm.
Ash Williams	Ash just can't catch a break!      He falls for George's fake defeat, his chainsaw revving down as he moves to gloat. Again, he grandstands for the benefit of other people, slowly approaching George with his arms spread wide. He buys it--hook, line and sinker. It happens, just about when he turns his head to Amelris. He opens his mouth to gloat, to make some inane one-liner. It doesn't come.      The explosion of the grenades lifts him off of his feet. He might be able to deal with that. What he can't account for is the impact of his head against the steel rafters of the warehouse. Ungracefully, his skull is thwacked against the support beams. He free-falls the rest of the way,unconscious. Thump.      Ash's body hits the hood of the Delta. He rolls off of the hood. For the time being, Ash is out for the count.
Selene	That Gengar is not having a good day. It gets a hard smack across the entire body on its descent, bouncing off the warehouse floor a few times and skidding to a stop in an utter daze. The Snorlax fares somewhat better as it doesn't get spiked like a purple ball, but it does have its work cut out for it as it latches right onto those giant fists in a contest of strength! "Come on, Slunch! Just flip it over and-wait. Can this be? No! The tank is...!"      Although its grip is mighty and its weight excessive, it doesn't have the ability to physically dig itself into the ground, and it goes flying right through a wall! And possibly two or three others, depending on how much of a fire hazard these warehouses are.      As bad as the situation looks for her team, Selene is still looking excited. "Okay... Plan C! Just because eating the market sounds really cool doesn't mean... Doesn't..." The Pokemon trainer purses her lips as she holds up the pink heart ball to recall the Gengar.      "... yeah, I got nothing. Your plan's super cool, but let's get to a three count, and then we'll talk about eating the market later!" With her blood burning with excitement and her energy levels spiking, she sends out the Torracat once more! "Maybe fire didn't work on your outside before, but can you deal with... Bringing the house down?!"     Somehow, the fire-spewing cat gets the message as the bell on its neck starts to chime, signifying another wave of powerful flames gushing out of its relatively smaller mouth. The flames surge around thetank, but it's not the tank that's teh target. It's the ceiling of the warehouse, as Selene's aiming to collapse the very building onto the VEHEMENCE!     She'll worry about her personal safety later.
Damocles	Damocles has seen this move before, so when Moonfin comes at him, he's at least able to raise his staff to clash weapon against weapon, the huge Astartes sorcerer leaning into the force of the slash and deflecting most, though not all of it away from his body.  The rift he opened turned out to do nothing but drain most of his energy.  Chaos is an odd thing, and while he could push himself to fight with more magic, doing so would put him at risk of Chaos corruption.  He needs to wait for his own mental energy to regain control of the power he's been channeling or he might be overwhelmed by the Warp.  Which is very, very bad.  "I understand.  For what it's wroth, I appreciate what you're trying to do.  But I also have a job to finish." Instead, he takes a step back, and immediately counters at Moonfin with his staff, swinging the bottom of the Force Staff like a blade in an upward slash against the samurai.  He's not trained in close quarters combat like this, so instead he just relies on his superhuman strength and quickness to brute force through any defenses.  Not a great plan, but it's the best one he's got.
Nova Terra	Launching those missiles to barrage Nova is a seemingly smart move. The carpet explosions render turning invisible pointless. Although. The Flotilla probably should have reconsidered given the trick Nova just pulled with the i-beams. They can detect the psychic strength she's radiating. And it's not going down.     Nova reaches out with a hand toward the missiles streaking towards her. They suddenly begin to jerk in flight, their engines fighting against an invisible force. Some along the edges still crash down into the dock, but those headed closest to Nova finally stop in mid-air. The psychic assassin stands there, missile barrage now within her mental grip. Anyone watching can probably guess what comes next.     Nova pushes her hand forward. The missile suddenly dart away from her, flipping through the air and leaving spiral trails behind as they fly back to the machine that fired them.     Howver, once her return to sender attack has landed, Nova drops down to one knee on the container, the psychic aura around her fading. She moves a hand to her head, which is throbbing right now, the pain visible on her face.
Amelris Belthrone	Amelris takes good note of where the VIP are. That's not going to be nice to take them off and he don't like the odds they have of winning against this group to begin with. The Red Mage, still on the tank, turns to face the screaming knight with gritting teeth. He have /no/ bleeding idea who or what she is supposed to be. The turrets unloads bolts, with Amelris' only answer is to start RUNNING. A few smacks him on the side and the back, gritting his teeth as he tries to slide, taking cover behind them and doing his damnest to stay ahead of them and find a dead angle.      "I can emphasis with that sentiment, lady!" He cries out, swinging one arm with a pulse of geometric aether spreading out from him, accelerating his spells to unload a blast of sharp stones at some of the turrets firing upon him. He have to find the engine of this thing or he just wont stand further a chance, here. "I certainly don't like my OWN friends getting hurt either!"
Starbound Flotilla	The warehouse collapses on the tank. The thing is absolutely battered and brutalized. Guns shear off of it, turrets are torn away. Both Nova Tera and Amelris are ripping the offensive options off the tank! Just absolutely pulping most turrets. One of the sets of treads is just turned to mostly scrap. Amelris has managed to rip the railgun clean off! "THIS... IS... NOT... A GAME!" Albert roars to Selene, as more and more falls around it, as more fire surges over it.     "We've lost every shield! Core's fucked, we have /just barely/ enough fuel to get out!" Pavo shouts!     "Floran hasss lossst mossst gunsss! Not got many optionsss!" Biteblade calls over from the weapon console!     "Get the VIP aboard, get out! I'M TAKING MANUAL CONTROL!" Albert roars, shoving his hands deep into maintenance panels and ripping out and rewiring lost circuitry. Soon, two huge gauntlets are around his hands.     The VIP is dumped aboard. Pavo and Biteblade eject! Pavo, the gold-robed gold-armored almost mesoamerican-looking Avian wouldn't look too out of place among the Aztechs she hates so much. Biteblade, the little floran huntress covered in wood-and-bone power armor, definitely would. Both scramble over the surface in a series of fast bits of engineering!     What comes charging out of the fire moves like the combination of a humanoid and a turtle. The heavy machinery is supported by two main back treads and has ape-like motion for its one and a half remaining tread-pods. The main body pops up a head just for the sake of coordination and observation since so many exterior cameras are crushed. It rushes out with high speed and brings down a titanic fist to try to smash Torracat into the ground! It had to tear through some of those I-beams Nova threw at it to get here, which ripped it up more, but that means it has huge metal on-hand to wield like a bat and try to just smash Amelris clean out of the park.     The torn-off railgun is hoisted up like a heavy weapon. The remaining thruster systems light up and the Flotilla craft braces itself with forward thrust. Handling the titanic railgun manually, Albert loads it up while Biteblade and Pavo rig it to fire manually, blasting a huge plasma-enveloped tungsten round not towards a vehicular target now, but instead Nova, a /human/ target. Even though she's weakened, Albert is full of /rage/.     It looks like the Flotilla's about to try to take off with the VIP! Though, at this rate, it looks like it won't be hard at all to track them if they do, considering that leaking fuel...     As the chaos unfolds in the background, here in the foreground, Moonfin and Damocles duel. It's tough, since Moonfin is a melee-specialized shitkicker and has somehow irrationally evaded so much of what puts Damocles ahead of him in terms of power. "You won't finish it. Not here, not like this. Chaos is born out of grand dreams, of great wishes competing and clashing. Chaos comes from ambition. You have no plan, you have no vision of a world with which to compete with mine. Chaos will not come from you. I will show you what true Chaos means to a world like this, if you will create none of your own." He swipes over and over again, brutal and unrelenting, trying to drive him off, exhaust him, and get some room so he can teleport aboard his gunship-tank-mecha wreck as it's taking off.
Selene	"Of course this isn't a game... This is about pushing things to their limit!" Undaunted, Selene shouts back to Albert and yelps as the warehouse starts falling apart, forcing her to jog away from falling debris. "This... Type of thing.. Isn't gonna be easy! I need to know if.. If you're worth following into this crapsack world!"      Selene's eyes continue to shine with excitement, and not just because of that line sounding cool in her head. "Yeah, I'm fighting for the hell of it, but what else am I gonna do? Sit back and let you do all the work? I can get in there with the best of you, too!"      The Torracat, meanwhile, isn't faring quite as well as its trainer. It's much more maneuverable for its size compared to its larger compatriots from before, but it can only do so much with so little room to maneuver. It gets clipped hard in the side, and it bounces off the ground once before stumbling over to Selene.      "Someone's gotta cook up the market before it gets eaten, right? What do you say?!"
Damocles	Damocles is locked into melee combat with an expert swordsman, which is not a great place for him to be.  It's only the enhanced, superhuman speed and excellent construction of the Eye of Tzeentch that allows him to keep up, blocking with the force staff as blows come in, or occasionally raising his arm to take a hit on his armored gauntlet, Batman-style, deflecting the blow away from more vital parts. Damocles can't keep that up for long, though. He's losing ground with every swipe.  More importantly to him, though, is what the person is saying. "I'm impressed," He says, his voice actually genuine.  "It's very rare to meet someone from my home universe who understands Chaos so well.  Let alone an outsider." He takes a step back, leaping enough to just give him and Moonfin a little bit of space between them, still holding his staff defensively.  "Well now, this is interesting.  I must know how you learned all of this.  But..."  He glances up to the damaged gunship, then back down to his opponent, "I suspect neither of us have time for such a conversation now." "Still," Damocles says with a shrug, "Would be a shame for either of us to die now, before we've had it.  How about we call this little fight as done here, and we can meet again to talk some time when things are more quiet?"
Nova Terra	Nova is still down on one knee, trying to fight off the migraine forming in her head, when she hears the newly reconfigured machine monstrosity break through the debris and beams around it. Looking up, Nova spots the railgun tilting to point directly at her. Her eyes go wide. Not enough time! Nova raises an arm-The railgun fires.     The collection of containers that Nova had been atop are wiped out in a blast of fire, shrapnel and molten metal. An object comes flying out of the impact point, quickly revealed to be Nova. The Ghost crashes into the side of another warehouse quite some distance behind her, putting a large dent in the metal frame. She then drops down to the ground in a heap.     Nova's environment suit is still smoking from the heat of the shot. At least, what's left of it. About half of it is gone, mostly around Nova's left arm and side, where the impact had been focused. Her skin beneath is bloodied and burned. Her left arm is completely limp, suggesting she can't move it. And as she comes to once more, she coughs up a bit of blood, likely meaning internal injuries. She's not getting out of this without a trip to the Griffin's medbay.     But DAMNIT if that railgun isn't pissing her off!     Nova slowly stands to her right, spitting out of a bit of blood before looking up at the Flotilla's once-gunship, once-tank, now some sort of warped humanoid machine. She reaches up with her good arm to take the canister rifle from her back. Wielding the large weapon one handed, she tilts her head to look down the scope. The sight focuses in on the tip of that railgun, although it is actually a little off.     Nova pulls the trigger anyway.     The large round blasts out of the rifle, zipping up towards the Flotilla's machine. As her scope had shown, the bullet's path is set to just miss the barrel's opening.     But Nova doesn't miss.     With what remaining strength she has left, Nova uses her telekinesis to alter the bullet's trajectory at the last moment. It curves, changing course to enter the barrel and go right down the center.     Meanwhile, the Griffin still floats in the general area of the battle, cloaked once more. Onboard, Reigel frowns as he notices Nova's physical readings slip into the red. He turns to one of the bridge crew, "Prepare a medivac and some Marines to retrieve her."
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin sheathes his blade elegantly. "As the Hylotl indulge the superior philosophy of pacifism," He says. "I shall grant you the peace you seek." Not the death kind, let's be clear. "If you shall not interfere further, I have no more cause to fight you. But the answer to your question is simple."     His visor pops up. The fish-man has three eyes; the third opens ominously. "We, of the Hylotl, learned that lesson as a whole race, long ago."     Amelris will become aware of something all at once. The Hylotl, long before they were fish-folk, were rather more humanlike -- a bit closer to elves. He can see their society, their great and wonderous cities, their shining jewel of a homeworld criss-crossed with an unthinkable number of arcologies and a vast, perfect ecosystem.     He can see the source of this. Something on every single Hylotl's face. Every time he has a flashing vision of them, it's clear: Every time they speak to each other, this third eye opens. It finely watches every movement, every sub-tremor. Every Hylotl's social senses are so keenly developed that they can barely lie to each other.     This is the root of Haruto, Moonfin of the Hylotl's plan. It is both a reform of society, and a kind of punishment of an inferior race. He beams aboard his ride out.     The ride out is ready to blast away at all pursuers, but even its last weapon is suddenly, abruptly annihilated. It's now nearly naked, lacking shields and weapons both, escaping purely on the merits of its armor. Thankfully, though, it isn't heading out over water. The traces of radioactive fuel might lead those interested somewhere...
Amelris Belthrone	At this point, it's getting rather difficult to stand on the vehicle. They have the VIP well in hand, even if they wrecked the ship pretty good at this point. Still, he have to try and--      The remaining turrets have other ideas.      It is also at this precise point, after hearing of the Hylotl speak on the radio, he can feel the usual pang of pain in his mind. "Oh, damnit, no," Amelris says, gritting his teeth as he rolls to a knee, avoiding a blast of one of the turret, "This is /not the time/!"      Visions of the Echo can be straightforward. This one, is strange. It is feelings, a straight acceleration and collage of history, a vision of people being very different, growing and changing into a large ecosystem. He is aware of this.      He can see the inentions. Moonfin talking. Other of his kind talking. The focus on the eyes. The unrelenting observation power, mutually peering at one another for anything unusual of their expression. Lies, rooted out. Most of all, he can feel the disdain, that sense of superiority deep within that plan and point of view.      Outside, in the real world, the Red Mage's body unceremoniously falls off the ship, to land with a splash into the cold waters of the harbour, just as the vision ends in a flood of water.