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Petra Soroka	Ironically, it's the parts of the L Nest that were most heavily fortified against the Backstreets that fell into the most chaos when the Wing collapsed.     The wall that used to separate what was this neighborhood of the Nest from the Backstreets outside of it now serves as a chokepoint for Blood Diadem to filter entry to their territory through. This is entirely ineffective as a security measure, since they're just posturing power and looking for rival Syndicates, so it's pretty much trivial for Petra and the Watch gumbies to slip in to the territory under the barely-interested eyes of the two cloaked Syndicate members. Past there, the wealth of the District skyrockets, though of course L-Corp's fall leaves its marks here, too.     Past the boarded-up windows and the stripped-out stores, is the bank that was in Petra's pictures. Built so close to the Backstreets, it was only natural to the corporate goons who debated on it that the Bank of L be built like a bunker, just in case the poors flooded over the wall in a tide to steal their hard-earned cash. Now that society *has* crumbled, those corporate goons were nowhere to be found, and instead, the building has been taken up by the second kind of person for whom a 'fortress' is the first priority in the apocalypse.     The spray-painted corona symbols of Blood Diadem mark their claim on this area of the Nest, both to the people living there, and anyone seeking to challenge it. Their banner budget was apparently met by the two that hang off of the front of the bank, and Petra idly wonders if one of the people in their Syndicate has a secret passion for sewing, and 'evil urban castle banners' is the only way they can express it. Petra, wearing a long coat over a tie and slacks, dips into a shadowed vantage point to light up a cigarette and analyze the castle for breach points in person. THE INFORMATION YOU KNOW: » There are around thirty Blood Diadem members in total, though given that you already passed a couple at the gate, it's a solid assumption they won't *all* be in the castle. » There are three floors to the bank: the ground floor is the lobby and public-facing area; the floor beneath that is offices, including the one that Petra needs to access to transfer out the liquid ahn; and then the vault below that, which is heavily fortified, and the place where the Enkephalin boxes are stored. » The bank currently has electric power. The lights are on! » Berislav's contacts heard from one of the impacted families within the territory that there are several hostages-- or conscripted servants, however you want to put it, inside the building. These five or so civilians are immediately idenifiable by their clothing compared to the Syndicate members, because it seems like Blood Diadem is genuinely roleplaying trying to become an 'establishment power' once the Nest is stabilized. » There are two Syndicate members on the roof, and two in front of the door, that you can see right now.
Petra Soroka	The 'uniform' of the Blood Diadem appears to be bulky utilitarian clothing in primarily black and red, cobbled together and reinforced with assorted bits of armor or sturdy boots or kneepads, sometimes with respirators as well. The defining article for all of them that you can see is a half-cloak over one shoulder of red fabric, with dark red 'droplet'-like ornaments hanging off the fringe. Seeing that, Petra's theory starts to have a little more probability to it.     They're also all armed with chainsaw-like weapons, though they take several forms. The two on top of the building have big twin 'guns' mounted to their backs and held under each arm, with a crank to pull that launches out a spray of chainsaw blade flechettes, while the two in front of the door have polearm-style chainsaws that they hold like royal guards. There's also repurposed industrial cauldrons on the roof, which could be filled with boiling oil if these guys are roleplaying to *that* degree.     Petra twiddles her cigarette between her index and middle finger, exhaling smoke while eyeing the castle. "Right. Busting down the wall might be risky if we don't know who's on the other side. Do any of you have a way to check that? Otherwise, our best play might be to drop, uh, Baker and Seventh," With a glance towards Veronica, "Down outside to bait their attention and get past them to find a proper breach point."
Father Berislav	Berislav is occupied with a phone call on his way through the 'checkpoint,' a burner cell pressed to his ear. His brow knits with concern.     "That many?" A sharp sigh. "I see. Thank you." An attentive pause. "No, that'll be all, Sasha. Start clearing out and have the others do the same. Remember not to leave all at once so as not to draw attention. Mhm. Take care."     Berislav lowers the phone, hangs up, and drops it into a brightly burning orange spatial tear as he rounds a street corner, which seals up after the phone falls through. Arriving at the meetup point, he offers the bad news in person.     "It looks like the worry about hostages was right," he says. "You'll be able to tell them apart by the outfits."     "Odette will be of critical value in the event any are harmed. To avoid that, we need to be swift and decisive the moment we see one," the priest frowns. "If we take her for granted, we'll not only make mistakes, but do the hostages a disservice as well." Our best play might be to drop, uh, Baker and Seventh down outside to bait their attention and get past them to find a proper breach point.     Berislav nods. "I was thinking something similar," he says. "Something that demands a response, a short pause and then another breach or two. No more than three, I think; we don't want to spread ourselves too thin in our efforts to spread *them* thinner." A glance towards Veronica, then. "How do you feel about a frontal assault? Can you manage by yourself or would you prefer backup?"     "I'm confident I can breach without posing a risk to any hostages on the other side," he says. "I'm quite used to managing the yields and varieties of my explosives at this point. Whether it will pose a risk to *us* is a different story, but..." Berislav shrugs. "In my opinion, it's one worth taking. Especially if it's me and one of our more sturdy members on point in that situation, which I'd personally prefer."
Tamiel Luxis	Tamiel is wreathed in black, her wings and halo held tight under a little newsboy cap. It hadn't exactly been hard for her to slip under the radar--there wasn't even cause for her to go especially hard about sneaking in. They just weren't used to dealing with her sort of infiltrator.     "Do any of you have a way to check that?"     "I do..." She cleared her throat, grimaced, reiterated. "I do. I can't look too deep inside, with the lights all on like that. My eyes need to stick to the dark...but it shouldn't be hard to look around them. All I need is a little opening in the wall."     Her shadow seemed to bud, to sever in two, entirely apart from her. This shadowy figure stood, momentarily three dimension, offering the Watchmen a wave--then falling back into her own shadow, flush and invisible in the dark. "It doesn't have to be a real window; just an arrowslit would be enough."     "I could look further in, probably...But we'd need to take the lights out first."     "If we take her for granted, we'll not only make mistakes, but do the hostages a disservice as well."     "Even if they're healed, it won't change that they were in pain. And we let it happen." Tamiel concurred, in her own way, clasping at her elbows. "At least they won't think of them as hostages. I don't think they'll realize we care about them...So they won't try to use them as human shields."
Veronica	Veronica arrives on foot, a little early, and walking alone so her leather jacket doesn't make her seem like a Syndicate tough.     Our best play might be to drop, uh, Baker and Seventh down outside to bait their attention and get past them to find a proper breach point.     "Normally I'd be all for making a big show of things. But I don't like the look of those dudes on the roof," Veronica says, indicating with her eyes so as not to point openly at the bank's defenses. "If someone can deal with the, uh, chainsaw snipers? Then I could probably make a show of things down here with more confidence."     "How do you feel about a frontal assault? Can you manage by yourself or would you prefer backup?"     Veronica nods in affirmation to Berislav's suggestion. "Two heads are better than one, same goes for, uh, mechs?" A glance at Petra to make sure she got the word right. "But we don't wanna all get tied up outside, so maybe just you and me."
Gaonoir	The fortified bank may have power but much of around it was still dark, which may be gloomy but it did make it easier for Gaonoir to get around unnoticed. Between general stealthiness and his voidstep ability being even more ffective in the dark. It's with the latter that the Digimon and Tamer step up to the meeting point seeming to part from the very shadows as they do so. It is in time to catch the strategy discussion. Gaonoir is about to ask if anyone considered the roof when Veronica points out the same thing. He tilts his head back a bit, squinting slightly. "That is another vector they could see something coming from. Good catch." "Gaonoir can fly in his digivolved forms, if no one else is able to get up there quickly and deal with that issue," is Erika's agreement on the matter.
Hibiki Tachibana	Thirty - less, reasonably - members of Blood Diadem to fight through. Three floors, going down, and the second and third floors are the ones that have what they need. And... hostages after all. Hmm, yeah. It's a good thing after all they aren't crashing a bus through the front. But she still thinks it would've worked. You just need to reinforce the front. Maybe with a huge bumper or something.     One day. For now, Hibiki is frowning at the castle as both Berislav and Petra lay down potential plans. "Getting them to safety and out of the way as soon as we can... if we do that, we'll have a lot less to worry about while dealing with the rest of them." She exhales, folding her arms tightly. "...Even if they might not try taking human shields," she murmurs to Tamiel, knowing very well most Cityfolk indeed wouldn't be slowed by that. "We shouldn't give them the chance to, still. You never know what someone'll do when they're desperate..."     And, you know. With the way their planning is going, having a giant street-golem stomping on your front lawn may or may not elicit some desperation. Her head tilts up, roofward.     "If it's someone handling the snipers you need," Hibiki says towards Veronica, "I should also be able to jump up there and take them out without much trouble, then get inside from the roof after. Otherwise, if you and Gaonoir think you can handle it," she nods towards Erika, "I'm pretty sure I can also breach without causing any collateral to people on the other side."     "...There were supposed to be two stairways down inside too, right, Petra? Once we handle the first floor, that's probably where we can split groups to cover more ground before they get themselves together..."
Angela	Blade Lineage and Yurodiviye have both accepted some responsibility for this heist. As expected, Yurodiviye is ill inclined to take place in such a public robbery directly, but Sonya has offered to take the role of 'getaway driver'. He has an unmarked van without plates that he'll abandon after the run and that van probably isn't actually his. He has parked outside of the anticipated visual perimeter of the gang and has parked there, opened up one of Chancy Proxy's newsletters, and reads while the others are getting in position. Blade Lineage however has sent Saya and a contingent of a few more swordsmen around to lend a hand. Thirty Bood Diadem members, even if each Blade Lineage member could handle like three of them, would be a bit much for Blade Lineage so Saya is grateful for their presence even if her misery is compounding. ''It looks like the worry about hostages was right.'' "Few syndicates have reason not to. While 'Syndicate' simply means unliscenced, it also means no quality control--either on the field of honor, or just in general." Saya says. "If they were just out in the street we wouldn't have nearly as much issue but since they are fortified, we'd need a proper distraction. Or something to take out those guns." There'se only so many bullets they can deflect with a sword at once even in this world. "We are not ninja but we'd be better off as part of a targeted force, rather than a targeted distraction."
Odette Raskins	After the briefing, Odette's had a bit of time to think about things. Putting those thoughts into action still remains to be seen, but she does at least look calmer than she normally would at seeing the armed Blood Diadem members at the front and up high. It probably helps that she's dressed to blend in with the District rather than wearing her usual Company or Trideag logo'd stuff, wearing a cheap tan jacket over a bone-white dress shirt (no tie) and drab brown slacks to push the image of 'someone barely making it here'. Even her usual white duffel bag has been replaced with a gray one that has probably seen better days with all the patches on the front and a zipper that's had the little pull tab replaced with several thick paper clips tied together. "I won't be much help getting eyes on whoever's in there, but I'm ready to pick up the hostages if any of them got hurt during all this." She affirms besides Berislav, trying not to beam too much with pride at his assessment. She hasn't actually done anything yet, after all. "I saw some rebreathers on the way in, so a gas attack won't do us much good. And with that armor of theirs, finding a spot to jab them with anything is going to be real tough. They're really ready for a straight up fight, so..." Odette pulls two inconspicuous spray bottles out of her bag that look like they're just filled with water, only bearing little medical symbols on them like her usual spray-healing solutions. "I can booby-trap the entrances once we're in, or wherever they might have reinforcements coming in from. Choke points, that kind of thing." She offers, then takes a moment to actually get her thoughts all together and finish said thoughts before continuing. "And while they're off their feet trying to corner us, we can take them out with less fuss." She suppresses a light shiver at the thought of having to stab someone on the ground. "And if they happen to send the hostages in first as shields or something nuts like that, we won't have to worry about them getting hurt too bad from slipping a little."
Petra Soroka	"It doesn't have to be a real window; just an arrowslit would be enough."     Petra snickers to herself. "Jesus, an arrowslit? Imagine. God, I'd actually believe it-- the Head hates guns anyways, so I could believe there's some fucker out there with a bow and arrow holed up in his castle like it's the twelfth century."     Being a formly generic corporate building, the front of the bank's facade has plenty of large windows because natural light sells lobbies better. Of course, they're reinforced with iron bars, and barricaded with wood on the inside, but the sheer breadth of the windows means there's a gap between the wood boards at *some* point, and that's all Tamiel needs to slip inside.     The lobby has been converted into a space that desperately wishes it had a throne, but ultimately doesn't, and is far too beholden to the realities of being a post-apocalypse Syndicate bunker to give off any feeling of 'royalty'. In the center of the room is a long table, or more accurately several corporate office desks that were pushed together to *make* a long table, as if it's a 'dining hall' of some kind, but there's mostly trash strewn across the table, as well as some chunk of unidentifiable meat buzzing with flies. There's piles of scrap metal to one side of the lobby and stacks of supplies in cardboard boxes or spilling across the ground to the other, and at each of them is a civilian in non-Syndicate wear, picking away at them to organize or clean.     A public-facing stairwell is to the left of the entry door, nearby the scrap metal, but Tamiel can point out any number of spots along the wall where there isn't a civilian to blast open. Across the large room, there's what used to be employee-only areas behind a glass-lined counter, and presumably the other stairwell through one of the doors on that side of the building.     There's also, obviously, plenty of Blood Diadem members inside, though Tamiel's shadow's limited position doesn't let her get a good count of them. She can see at least three in the lobby and one on the far side of the room, bringing the immediate ground-floor total to a minimum of eight chainsaw-weapontype wielding gang members.
Petra Soroka	"To avoid that, we need to be swift and decisive the moment we see one,"     "Yeah. They don't look like, uh, particularly precise fighters," She says of the dual-chainsaw-gun-wielding sentries. Then she gets distracted musing about something mostly unrelated to that, directing her conversation to Berislav and only incidentally including everyone else while planning.     "You know, I've kind of been wondering if it's weird that I'm doing just as much fighting in this as any of you. Aren't I hiring you? Shouldn't I be, like, an escort-type? Like-- video game escort, not--" She waves her hand to clear that sentence away. "I just wonder if someone's gonna hear about this after and be like, 'wow, Petra sure fucked up that dynamic in such an embarrassing way. She doesn't even know how to be a shadowy mysterious sponsor for a high profile Syndicate crime. What a loser.'"     "Anyways, I'll keep an eye out for the hostages." She got on that train of thought for a reason she didn't voice out loud, but Berislav might be able to intuit-- her goal doesn't involve keeping the civilians alive at all. Theoretically, she could just leave that responsibility wholly to the Watchmen. "I don't think they'll realize we care about them...So they won't try to use them as human shields."     "That's a good point, but bodies still slow bullets." Petra points it out to Tamiel as if it's a well-known idiom. It might actually be, in District 12. She's lived here long enough to be naturalized to the language. "...There were supposed to be two stairways down inside too, right, Petra?"     "Mmm. Two stairways. If we want to split up, we'll probably want to do it on this floor, which might mean that the Baker and Seventh group goes through the front once they draw attention, and Berislav, Saya, and I, go through the back. That sound good?" "I can booby-trap the entrances once we're in, or wherever they might have reinforcements coming in from."     Petra blinks, and then pulls out her compact mirror. She flips it open, presses her palm to it, flicks the surface a few times until Qetra's hand matches hers, and then pulls out a ratbot. "Yeah, reinforces could totally come. I'll set up Twopence to keep an eye out for them, but booby traps' good too."
Angela	Saya follows along after Petra, sword in hand, along with her small contingent of Lineage members. She mutters 'Wings...' in frustration as she sees just what has been done to the bank. She is not a fan, ultimately seeing it as the ultimate abandonment of responsibility towards society. But she can't quite master up the heat to do more than that. It's hard for her to get properly enraged lately. She just gets quiet and sad these days. She has no interest in engaging people just doing normal ass work even if it's for the Syndicate but she's eyeballing them in case any of them are just in plain clothes. City organizations love their uniforms but it's not like a grand edict making it happen that way. ''It's weird that I'm doing just as much fighting in this as any of you.'' "If you look too competent you'll draw eyes you might not wish to have on you. If they see you as a fool, let them--all the easier for you to cut their throat." Saya may be a little intense. "You fighting will make it easier for your own goals." Saya says. "That is plenty of reason to not leave it entirely to us." The Blade LIneage has an idiom like that. Bodies slow bullets but they are not always the most effective shield. She grimaces a little at the thought, pulling her robes tighter with one hand. She's feeling a little chilly. "Yes. I'll join you." She gestures the other Lineage members to follow their samurai heart before giving Petra a nod. She isn't sure if she'd say she likes Petra, but she appreciates her and sometimes that's more important, especially on a mission like this.
Gaonoir	"You guys split up between the front and back, while we've got the roof. Covers the three main vectors, and we'll keep the snipers from trying to come down after you guys." With the strategy and roles settled on Gaonoir takes a moment to concentrate and draw more of the energy reserves from within himself. Those that have seen Digimon digivolve before are probably expecting a bunch of flash and pomp and transformation shouting. Gaonoir does none of that. It's optional and now is not the time for such flagrant shows of power. Instead it's just a brief engulfment of shadowy energy from the Dark Digitron in his code. From which he rises in a taller, more anthropomorphic form. One that most notibly has a pair of engine narcelles on his back like a jetpack. He scoops Erika up in one arm so she's seated at the crux of his elbow, and then steps back so his darker colors remain partially hidden in the city shadows until it's time for him to take off.
Veronica	Veronica nods along as the plan comes together. Her and Hibiki out front - she hasn't seen what the other girl is capable of, but there's not much time to chat about it either. Once Berislav and company have split off, and Tamiel and Gaonoir have made for the roof, she looks to Hibiki and half-whispers: "Go time?"     Once Veronica has a confirmation from Hibiki, she dips back behind a dumpster for a quick 'costume change'. What this involves, if Hibiki follows to see, is as strange as Veronica's emergence from Baker and Seventh the other day. Arms, dozens and then hundreds of them, reach from behind her back, overlapping with each other and clasping hand to wrist as they fold around Veronica into that uncanny-looking pod of limbs. Then Baker and Seventh's 'body' begins to appear, chunk by chunk, masses of brickwork and stone rising from the ground and sliding out of each other into a humanoid form centered on - and soon completely obscuring - the central 'pod'.     With a great screech of tearing metal and the grinding of concrete on brick, Baker and Seventh rises and, in what is probably a bit of Veronica showing off, flexes its arms menacingly. Hey, she's supposed to be a diversion! Then she strides forward, picking up speed toward the guards at the front entrance. By the time she's nearing chainsaw-pike range she's released the three-tailed power-line whip from within her left arm, lashing it around to ensnare the guards' long, unwieldy weapons before they can come down to bear on Baker and Seventh.     Veronica tries to carry forward a little ways *past* the guards at the wall, into the courtyard before the bank. The speakers on her shoulders blare, a long, train-horn note that announces the (real) arrival of something *big*, to draw away from the hopefully more subtle entry into the bank by the other Elites.
Odette Raskins	"Aren't I hiring you? Shouldn't I be, like, an escort-type? Like-- video game escort, not--" "Yeah... Yeah, you've got a point there. Although an escort mission usually isn't stronger than some of the escorters." ODette replies with a slow now, only looking momentarily confused at Petra clarifying something that already seemed obvious to her. Before she can ask what other kinds of escorts there are, though, Petra keeps the thought train moving along. "A-anyway. You can still kick back and relax if you want. We've got a deal already, so it'd be a bad look for the Watch if we let you do all that heavy lifting, anyway." She pauses to recollect her thoughts again and to consider Saya's own advice, looking conflicted afterwards. Should she retract what she said? No... That'd just be going back to being a sniveling pushover again. Instead, Odette snaps her fingers as something else comes to mind. "What if you hired us as bodyguards and extra hands in this? Then it's like you hired extra muscle to help out while still being involved." A plan is discussed and sorted out over the radio, and Odette knows what her part in all this is: Set traps at choke points and entrances, keep meds at the ready for her allies and injured hostages, and be ready to finish off any Blood Diadem members that fall for the booby traps. Her confidence is even bolstered a little by Petra's approval, and she peers curiously at that compact mirror and the ratbot that comes out of it, but... What does finish off even mean in this context? She's still thinking about that as she follows Berislav's lead from a healthy distance. As she keeps the spray bottles full of lubricant at the top of her bag, she also makes sure to bring her sidearm, sword, and staff to the top as well. Her hands tremble slightly as she keeps nudging the weapons, then pulls the spray bottles out and stuffs them in her pockets before closing the bag back up. She can worry about that later. For now, she just needs to focus on getting the entrance on Berislav's side liberally greased up, then repeat the process at the next important-looking doorway as they head deeper in.
Tamiel Luxis	Tamiel took a deep breath, shadows rearing up, curled around her like the petals of a flower, closing around her in darkness until it fell away, leaving her dressed in a black-and-red skirt and sleeveless hoodie. Her wings remained confined behind her, only her scarf trailing behind her. She swatted it self-conciously, a little nervous about the clear visual identifier.     She brings her attention toward the weird lizard...thing. "Um, if you can't do it quiet, maybe you could let me get the first hit in. I can get up there quietly..." A pause. "...I won't be flying.."     Then, she turns to the others. "...See you on the inside." She murmured, sinking into the darkness. But it was meant figuratively, after all, because Tamiel never lost sight of them. Another shadow pried itself from the ground, making a beckoning gesture to the breachers, inviting them to follow her to an untended to--and not load-bearing--wall.     The featureless shadow rose from the ground and made a broad, exaggerated wave toward the wall, then raising her hands in a 'ta-da!' If it had a face, you could almost imagine it smiling.     Tamiel, by contrast moved in two dimensions, flat, down and up the side of the building, the world blurring by, until a little shadow peeked over the edge of the roof, hiding in the outlines between lines of light. She can't help but revel in it, this moment where her fumbling words don't mean anything. This moment where thoughts slid away into tension, like a bowstring pulled taut.     Waiting, waiting, waitin--     The loud train-whistle sound, and Tamiel sprung forward, a shadowy blur materializing into a girl in one moment and swinging her arms, wide--the very fabric of her sleeve twisting into a scythe-like, edge, threatening to cleave across an arm--     --And then she was flying past them, skidding to a halt across the roof in a three-point stance, between the snipers and the door below. "Please stand down." She said, with all earnestness, while darkness still seethed, full of threatening lethal points around her. "I don't want to hurt you."
Father Berislav	She doesn't even know how to be a shadowy mysterious sponsor for a high profile Syndicate crime. What a loser.'     "Maybe," muses Berislav. "But that isn't your style. I couldn't see you doing that and enjoying it." Anyways, I'll keep an eye out for the hostages.     "Thank you," says Berislav with a nod.     The Baker and Seventh group goes through the front once they draw attention, and Berislav, Saya, and I, go through the back. That sound good?     "It sounds excellent." Berislav affirms. <J-IC-Scene> Tamiel Luxis says, "Um...Right. There are some hostages in the lobby, trying to sort things...I can paint a few good points to break through." <J-IC-Scene> Tamiel Luxis says, "I'll send a shadow with you to the spot."     Berislav's hand dips into subspace. It returns with one of his heavy revolvers, the silver barrel as long as his forearm. When Tamiel's shadow arrives, his brow lifts in mild surprise--he wasn't sure what to expect when she said so, but it's hard to mistake for anything but her signal. He follows the signal, places his free hand on the wall, and utters a soft 'hm.' Doing a bit of mental math with an almost casual air, he looks between the wall, Petra, Saya and the others in his 'team,' then gently beckons them to stand back with sweeps of his hand until he's satisfied. "I'd say..." he mutters to himself, before nodding. "Yes. That should do perfectly."     "It's been so long since I could do that kind of math in peace," he says, before retrieving a brick of plastic explosive from a subspace tear. Affixing it firmly to the wall, he primes it and sets a countdown, striding briskly to stand beside Petra. "It might be a bit loud. Ahem. Weapons at the ready, inside in 5," he advises. Four, three, two, one...     Whatever he used was deafening, and for a moment, blinding in the sheer quantity of powdered bank it spews backwards. Berislav is in first, punching through the floating dust like icy winds through powdered snow, leaving a rapid current of disturbed air in his wake. Five shots in one gun, eight bodies. Don't give them the chance to set the terms first.     Wreathed in a cloud of clinging dust, Berislav circles the perimeter of the lobby at a sprint. The civilians are all in one spot. Good. I can keep attention on myself. Three hollow-point bullets the size of a human finger spread out in a fan pattern, with the space between them more suited to a machine pistol than a revolver.     They won't overpenetrate--not that his marksmanship would make that a problem--but the stopping power of a projectile of that size will catch attention, and might even threaten the piecemeal armor they're wearing--especially since he's going for wrist on one guard, elbow on another, and knee on a third, before he twists backwards to turn his sprint into a slide to lower his profile in anticipation of a retaliatory salvo. Momentum carries him away from the breach point, allowing the others to come in.     "Now that I have your attention," Berislav shouts from behind the nearest cover, a sturdy planter which likely isn't sturdy enough to stop a buzzsaw, but which is well enough to conceal his figure. "Listen to me. The City needs kindness and warmth, not cruelty with a noble face. I'm willing to kill to make it easier to be kind here. If you're not willing to die to keep cruelty alive, then leave, and leave this black-hearted delusion behind you," he says, procuring the other revolver and setting the cylinder to a click-click partial spin, "You have until my allies have what they want to make your decision. If you're still here when they finish, then I'll send you to your final judgment. If you try to keep your neighbors from saving their souls, then I'll kill you right now."
Hibiki Tachibana	So, what, Hibiki and I out here, Berislav breaking in somewhere else, Gaonoir was it? Gaonoir up the roof, sounds like a plan of attack to me so far.     That sounds fine. The rest of you should divide yourselves accordingly based on your abilities; heavy hitters taking point with the breachers, midrange and support after with the former covering the latter.     "Mn..." Hibiki goes from sitting down during their initial appraisal of the defenses to pushing herself to a stand, reaching beneath her collar to fish out her cracked pendant. There's a sullen look on her face for a moment, before it tenses back to a somewhat strained neutral as she clasps her hand around it. "...Shouldn't be too rough. Just a brawl with some goons. We'll be done before we know it." That sounds like a reassurance to herself - and it? - just as much as anything else.     Before the groups split apart from one another on their assigned jobs, she gives Saya a sidelong glance that the swordswoman probably won't even notice - taking in her withdrawn nature even when they're about to move, maybe. The only sound she makes is a quiet exhale before she hurries off with Veronica with a quiet agreement of, "Go time." She sort of needs a costume change too, after all.     "Ah--" It's essentially a reversal of how Baker and Seventh vanished before, so it shouldn't necessarily be surprising, but Hibiki still seems to have some slack-jawed awe at the sight of the enveloping of arms, and then the formation of the stone and concrete to create Baker and Seventh itself. By the time it's doing all that flexing though, she has her eyebrows furrowed with a little smile. "...Not sure they'll even be able to hurt you past all that. Right..."     Veronica charges ahead, and Hibiki is right behind her, prying her pendant and its string off her neck. "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..." Golden light spills from between her fingers, and then bursts all around her body silhouetting everything except her face-- before coalescing into undersuit and skirt, then leg armor, then gauntlets, then headphones.     And finally oversized scarf, at the same time she barrels forward in a blurry fast lunge to follow up on Veronica's weapon snaring by driving an elbow into the gut of one of the disarmed guards to try and knock the wind out of and incapacitate him on the spot. The second she pulls it back, and she's already springing up onto one leg and spinning into a kick to the head to bowl the other one over as well.     "...Do the smart thing and stay down, and you'll be fine," she murmurs despite the possibility they might've ended up out like lights already, stepping past into the courtyard on the trail of Baker and Seventh.
Petra Soroka	"You fighting will make it easier for your own goals."     "Yeahhh..." Petra sighs a bit, because that's the very obvious practical reason for doing it, and she has no argument against it. But it doesn't help with her anxiety! "I guess I can't really help people seeing me like I'm stupid sometimes." "A-anyway. You can still kick back and relax if you want."     "That's true. I *am* stronger than you. All of you, probably." Is Petra interested in battleboard-comparing herself to Berislav? Maybe a little bit, but mostly because it'd be funny. For all the rest, she doesn't even see it as a question that she's stronger than them, but now that she's said it as a refutation of Odette's 'some of', it's a point of pride that she *has* to demonstrate it. That, of all her reasons, is the one that dispels the most anxiety about how significant a part in the heist she has.     "I'm not the kind of loser who'd just sit on my ass and hire people to do my work, anyways. If I hired you as bodyguards, you'd be getting, like, a set payment, not a cut of it. I just hate having things done for me, I guess." "It sounds excellent."     Petra preens a little bit at the praise, because in the end, she is much better suited for gooning than goon-leading. She looses the ratbot to surveil the street behind then-- with a specific eye towards catching Veronica's summoning of Baker and Seventh in its little ratbot lens-- and then gestures for everyone to split and go their own ways.     It's no surprise that the klaxon arrival of a giant concrete mech immediately stirs shouting and alarm within the bank. The sentries rev up their chainsaw guns-- technically, with those chains, they might be more like automatic fire slingshots?-- and spray a few moments' worth of razor-edged metal in Baker and Seventh's direction, but then they're each caught by Tamiel and Gaonoir. They shout in surprise ('Who are these dweebs?!' and other suchlike) and wheel around, clumsily, to try and swing their bladed arm-mounted guns at them like revving bayonets. "I don't want to hurt you."     "Tch. Don't think we'll go easy on us just because you are!" So they're those sorts.     Meanwhile, down in the courtyard, the two polearm guards eventually get the idea to use their chainsaw blades to cross streams and cut each *others'* entrapping power lines, after already having been dragged along a bit. They throw up sparks where they cut through the power lines, and then poke out with their halberds towards the mech like they're fighting a dragon.     "What the hell is this thing?! Another Syndicate--?!"     They don't get to be particularly effective at aspirationally golem-slaying before Hibiki lays them both flat. Her words seem to inspire one of them to try and struggle back up to his knees, but his arms give out with a grunt and he collapses on the ground again. Three more Blood Diadem goons jump out of the front door at the commotion before Berislav breaches the backside, though...!     These ones include one more chainsaw minigun type, along with two that have giant katar-like gauntlets with, of course, whirring chainsaw blades. One immediately tries to go gauntlet to gauntlet with Hibiki, while the other leaps up to try to jump on top of Baker and Seventh's arm, expecting it to be too slow to stop him from punching!
Petra Soroka	"It might be a bit loud. Ahem. Weapons at the ready, inside in 5,"     Petra readily stands away from the spot that Berislav indicates he's putting explosives at. She wonders a bit on how similar her own reasoning is to Berislav's, in not utilizing the Beauty of Ash-- not exactly for the 'gardeners of sin', but in general, that using it flippantly is more of a hindrance to her overall goals than a help. It's also the wrong tone, she thinks, to bring the Beauty of Ash here: some other bank heist, one that's more like the Gangreen Gang's activities in Townsville, and she'd have no problems with it, but here she expects people to die. In the end, she just doesn't really want any more blood on the Beauty of Ash than is necessary, practically or narratively.     So 'weapons ready' for her means the flaming sword of Fourth Match Flame, held out by her side. Underneath her coat, anyone who's looking closely might see a squirming lattice of metal spreading across her underlayer, but there isn't much time to check before the wall blows open. "The City needs kindness and warmth, not cruelty with a noble face."     Berislav's entry is met with absolute mayhem inside the lobby. The only person that stops moving upon getting shot at is one woman with a greatsword-style chainsaw, who revs it up to speed after glancing a bullet off the flat of it. The hostages, for their part, scream and run towards the stairwells, and Petra only manages to catch one by the back of their shirt by stuttering and skipping a frame in space, teleporting several steps forwards with her hand outstretched.     "Hey-- outside, that way." Towards Odette, not towards the mech fight. "No one's gonna hurt you." "You have until my allies have what they want to make your decision."     "Now that seems like a bullcrap deal, waiting for you to get what *you* want, when you're trying to take what we *have*."     The other two Blood Diadem members are swearing after having been shot, and neither of them perks up like they're delighted at the opportunity that Berislav is presenting them. A few seconds after the greatsword-wielding one charges towards Berislav and then veers towards Saya to try and fend off both of them, they try to support her by throwing chainsaw-bladed javelins. That's probably where all the scrap metal goes!     One stairwell has the other lobby civilian run down it, panicking. The other one has Petra flash step over to it and kick down the door, just to be met with a halberd-chainsaw goon. She catches their jab on Fourth Match Flame, which flares up to char the haft into uselessness in the span of a second, then slams them to the side to progress further downstairs, to the offices that have been converted into a kind of communal living area!
Gaonoir	The mistake the snipers make is that they're responding to Tamiel's attempt to threaten/plead with them to stand down. Because that's when Gaonoir comes blasting up on the other side of the rooftop, having used a combination of speed and his darkness manipulating stealth to do so and not be noticed apart from The City's shadows until he's already rising up past the edge of the roof. "Ah ah ah." Erika taunts them with a finger waggle from where she's sitting on his arm. "You should of listened to her~" For his part Gaonoir just opens his lupine maw and unleashes something akin to the Big Bad Wolf, but worse. The blast of air is infused with darkness, creating a concussive force that not only is going to hopefully knock them down on the roof, but the enervating aspect will start sapping their strength and energy to fight.
Veronica	Veronica grunts in surprise as the chainsaws rip through Baker and Seventh's electrical cables, but Hibiki has those guards down shortly after. "Cool armor, kid!" Veronica radios directly into Hibiki's headphones. "I'll take the gunner..." But first, there's a guy on her arm! She raises the arm in question in front of her face, to get a look at the guy. A few shakes aren't enough to dislodge him, and he's started cutting into Baker and Seventh's arm, slowly but surely grinding his way through presumably in an attempt to sever the limb. Time to try something else.     The foghorn-blasts from Baker and Seventh's speakers cut off, suddenly leaving only the sound of battle (and perhaps some alarms from within the bank). Then a new sound rises, a quickly upward-pitching chain of click-click-clicks terminating in an enormous *CRACK* as the supernaturally-powerful speakers both release a directional shockwave at the Blood Diadem goon. His ears will need some time to recover, but more pressingly the force of the dual sonic boom will send him tumbling away from Baker and Seventh, chainsaw gauntlet uselessly lodged into the concrete.     Veronica then turns her attention to the chainsaw-gunner at the entrance as a volley of sawblades lodge into one of Baker and Seventh's legs. Raising her right arm again, a pipe several inches long crunches its way out of the limb's interior and disgorges a torrent of high-pressure water. In addition to battering the gunner directly, the concentrated geyser will waterlog the engine of his gun if he doesn't find cover ASAP! Keeping the water trained on the gunner's position, Veronica scans the courtyard, watching as best she can for reinforcements...
Angela	As they head down, Saya's eyes are flitting back and forth--tense anxiety in her stare. Sweat drips down her neck despite the lack of exertion. Battle is a fact of life for her, but it's never clean or easy for her. In a way, being a middle of the road warrior is worse than being a total newbie. She knows the dangers, what she's expected to handle, and about what she can't handle. And sometimes the latter and that second option are quite close to each other. ''I guess I can't really help people seeing me like I'm stupid sometimes.'' "Everyone is stupid sometimes. You seem smart enough to me but I ''am'' following you into a building full of people who would kill me, so I'd be a fool if you didn't." Saya says. She doesn't notice the sidelong glance, nor does she keep chatting because now it's murder time. In a contest of swords, Blade Lineage are far above average for The City even if only really Kim himself can qualify as one of The City's top swordsmen. Swords are a popular weapon but Saya isn't scared of one guy with a sword just because it's bigger than hers. She slides under the sword and swipes at his armpit with her sword, wholly intent on carving it up enough to make it difficult for him to swing that heavy weapon around. She should have killed him, she thinks, but her hand just wouldn't guide the blade that way. She follows after Petra down into the communal area. It's getting colder. Petra, Saya, and Berislav--if he followed them down--find themselves in what looks like an office that has been converted to a communal area with a bunch of dorm rooms. A familiar pinkish-red haired woman is sitting on a couch, biting down on an apple. An earpiece is in her left ear and she stands up. Some garbled noises--commands?--come over her earbud and she sighs, turning to face the invading Elites. Her gaze settles on Petra first, then on Petra's sword. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwHs9dfg4U "Cinder stopped answering my texts." Yuri says. "I wanted to believe that it was just because she was busy in that tower. But you'd know for sure what happened to her, right.. Petra? Since you're holding her EGO." Her knuckles are white as she clenches Frost Splinter in her hand, a sword with a dark blue pommel and an ice-like blade protruding out of it, about a longsword in length. She is considerably more 'icy' than when Petra remembers her. Around one of her eyes has sprouted out several sharp shards of thick ice, that seems wholly embedded in her skin. Her EGO Suit has become a shimmering blue-white gown. She isn't shivering at all. ''The City needs kindness and warmth.'' Yuri points at the non-frosted eye. "Sorry, Father." Yuri says. "You're not wrong, but the flame has been extinguished, hasn't it...?" Her tone is gloomy, exhausted. Her face is sporting multiple bruises. "There's no warmth to be found here. And I don't have a choice. I couldn't change my fate...Or hers..." She darts towards Petra, readying Frost Splinter. "...Let's see if I can leave a scar..." Saya steps in, being as cautious as she can reasonably be in her stance, swiping up with her blade to deflect Yuri's strike--but the cold of Frost Splinter is SO cold it conducts through the blade even to the hilt and with a gasp, Saya drops the sword--and an instant later, Yuri swipes through Saya's chest with the blade, an eruption of ice bursting out of the sword and across Saya's chest. Yuri kicks her onto her back and stomps down on her. "...How'd it happen, Petra? Was she sacrificed by that company? Did she die a hero like she always wanted? Or have I not suffered enough yet?"
Odette Raskins	"I just hate having things done for me, I guess." Even as the operation begins in earnest, Odette still has those words echoing around in her head. It's an all too familiar feeling, and it reminds her that there's still too much of a gulf between herself and everyone else even as she sprays down those doorways in preparation for goons that haven't shown up just yet. Is a new weapon the ticket? No, she'd just be a bigger risk to herself and her allies at this point. Magic? No, she hasn't been able to manage anything larger than a flicker or a pilot light at best. Throwing herself into further training? Maybe, but how long would it take to even reach a tenth of everyone else's ability? She shakes those thoughts out of her head, and just in time to see those hostages running and screaming. Seeing Petra directing them her way, she quickly catches on and slips her EMT-blue cap out of her bag and right onto her head to make herself a little more visible as 'the hostage-fleeing direction'. "Come on, this way!" She stage-whisper-shouts as she starts seeing the first of the hostages, waving them over before remembering that she already lubed up the way out. "Uh... Just watch your step on the way out! Short steps, don't run!" She warns, even going as far as demonstrating with slightly exaggerated shuffling in place to try and signal the danger of slipping without outright saying it. Once it doesn't look like there's anyone else fleeing through the entrance Berislav created, Odette continues further in to follow after him and Petra, keeping the EMT cap on now that she needs to keep being a signal of relative safety. She's keeping her eyes open, though, for other paths her companions haven't gone down yet, in the hopes of finding something lucrative or hostage-y along the way to take a little more initiative for once. The way down to the vault has to be somewhere around here, right? Instead, she sees Yuri stomping on Saya as she rounds a corner, and Odette's first instinct is to duck around that corner while holding her breath. Was she seen? Could she get the jump on the ice-wielder that knows Petra and knew Cinder? Could she do it in a way that doesn't require everyone else to bail her out? That ice-forming cut across Saya's chest isn't going to fix itself, so that settles it. Swapping the mostly empty grease bottle out with a new spray bottle full of medication, Odette starts advancing on Saya steadily even though her face looks like it's frozen in terror already. She doesn't have much of a plan on how to handle Yuri if she gets targeted, but surely the Trideag blade she's got in her bag can withstand a hit or two if she really needs it to! She just needs to get close enough to actually treat Saya's wound and hoist her away from there. Maybe she won't even need the sword.
Tamiel Luxis	"Tch. Don't think we'll go easy on us just because you are!"     When the call comes to action, hestiate not.     "You must be true believers, then. I guess there's no point arguing..." She pouts slightly. Tamiel pulled her quarterstaff just in time to block a clusmy bayonet, sparks flying where it met her. But she didn't just try to block it, but SLAM their weapons in return. It's possible only the fact that the weapons were arm-mounted kept them from being slapped away entirely.     She wondered whether the chainsaw guns made them more or less threatening...? She could practically hear her mother scoffing at the very prospect, but Tamiel couldn't help but see it warily, measuring what options she had that didn't involve getting into close quarters.     Eventually, she found something. Nodding, softly, to herself. "I shouldn't say sorry..." The shadowy bladle on her arm dissolves, the teeming shadows dissolve, falling to Tamiel's feet. Then spread out before her, like a pool, underneath the two thugs' feet.     And as Gao emerged for his surprise attack. She made a sharp, upward motion with her hand, and suddenly lances of midnight emerged from the ground, moving haphazardly up. She wasn't particularly trying to to avoid their vitals, but Tamiel's true goal was their feet. Disrupt their footing, keep them moving...And really, who could they even hurt if they couldn't stand?
Father Berislav	Now that seems like a bullcrap deal, waiting for you to get what *you* want, when you're trying to take what we *have*.     "I'm returning what you're squatting on like vultures to the people whose poverty and endangerment was engineered to create it," shouts Berislav in answer, "And I'm giving you the chance to save your soul by sharing in it *justly* as their neighbors, rather than *hoarding* it as the latest petty tyrants."     "That's a fairer deal than those people ever got."     Berislav rolls out from cover in time to see the source of the approaching footsteps and the alarming buzz all at once. Leaning backwards and kicking off, he pushes himself across the floor with superhuman strength, starting another slide. Flinging his right arm outwards with a triggerpull at the apex, the gun roars and sends a hollow point curving towards the blade of the left halberd. The impact knocks it aside, the bullet deforms and ricochets into the opposite, throwing it off course as well.     He twirls both guns as his momentum begins to cease, holding them in an odd grip with their long barrels parallel to and flush with his forearms. Crossing both arms, he brings his elbows into the floor hard enough to crack it, propelling himself upright and a foot or two into the air, with a fluttering pair of straight kicks to ward off the third member's charging strike.     "The time is for your benefit. Not mine," he says, with icy conviction. His eyes betray an almost chilling calm and certainty of purpose as he ducks under her swing in a rolling motion and sidesteps to force her to fight himself and Saya at different angles. "Use it to think about what the City would be like, if no one rushed to blame the victim when someone lost their life, and everyone rushed to help their loved ones through it." The heavy frames of the guns are used in snapping parries, sparks flying from them without so much as a flinch from the priest, who counterattacks with brutal kicks aimed at her knees. He threatens punches, delivering only enough to make the threats credible, threatening *also* with twirls of his pistols thrown in, flashing the barrel at her wrists, feet, elbows and knees as an aggressive guessing-game.      His footwork is immaculate despite the disadvantage in reach; he hints at movement with leans forward or backwards, every step carrying a purpose whether it's a feint or a test, and these are all but indistinguishable from the ones that put his fists or feet in range of what they can hurt. "Think about what it would be like without Sweepers or Wing wars. Without the senseless, thoughtless cruelty excused and *encouraged* every day, so long as it doesn't threaten any power structures." His measurement *of* that range is terrifying; a lean forward can turn into a check of her sword, an elbow into the abdomen, a smashing kick aimed at the ankle or the deathly flash of a muzzle, or *nothing at all.*      When Saya's swordplay gives him an opening, he takes it, punishing their opponent with force far in excess of what his unassuming physique would imply. Twirling the right gun outwards, he points the muzzle not towards his opponent, but the ground, creating a pinpoint ricochet of the deformed bullet upwards, to smash into her wrist.      "That world is coming. So think now about whether you'll live today for a place in it tomorrow, or whether you'll die for *nothing.*"
Hibiki Tachibana	"...Why don't they ever listen..." Hibiki grumbles with what sounds like muted frustration at the goon who tries and fails to get back up, just to frown beneath her scarf and continue on once he shows he's out for the count. "...But they don't have bad reaction times, cutting the wires like that. Can't underestimate them..."     She's fighting fit by the time she's caught up with Veronica in the courtyard again, with a slightly surprised reply of, "Uh... thanks!" to the compliments to her Symphogear. One must wonder the mechanics with which magical girl headphones pick up messages. They just sort of connect to any channel that's convenient.     More pressingly though, reinforcements have arrived. Part of her is honestly sort of impressed, in a way that's not good for them at all. "How many ways have these guys come up with to use chainsaws of all things...!? Watch for the one trying to get on you--!" It's /really/ not good for them, charging them down with gunner support at their back.     With one chainsaw-gauntlet Blood Diadem soldier coming her way, she steps forward to meet him, raising one arm up to block his initial strike. Whirring chain-blades meet her own half-cylinder gauntlet with a loud clash of metal on metal and a shower of sparks - again and again and again in a set of brief clashes, until she presses in to push up and against it, and send it to the side to open up his guard.     She uses that to slide in close and transfer her momentum into a shoulder-check to try and further knock him off balance... then follow up by grappling at his arm to /yank/ him into a spin, and whirl around to outright try and /toss/ him into his other katar-wielding comrade that Veronica sound-blasted attempt - to make sure all three of the reinforcements will be accounted for in one go.     "Don't drag this out any more than it has to be...!"
Petra Soroka	Out in the courtyard . . .     The Blood Diadem goon crumples off of Baker and Seventh's arm immediately when Veronica wields anti-riot sonic weaponry on him. He's thrown off of her arm and collapses in the grass, out for the count, and not looking like he's getting up anytime soon. As for the gunner at the entrance, he appears to not consider the nuances of how his own gimmick weapon works-- after sputtering and ducking to keep his center of gravity steady in the stream of pressurized water, he doesn't take his aim off of sending blades rocketing in the mech's direction. He only gets a few more seconds into doing that before his minigun gutters and chokes to a stop, prompting a panicked 'Huh??? Wha??? C'mon, you hunk of junk!' as he bangs on it with his fist. "You must be true believers, then. I guess there's no point arguing..."     It's very likely that they don't even believe Tamiel's warning, whether that she *can* hurt them, or that she would *stop* hurting them if they gave up. Either way, neither one slows down their attempts to break through Tamiel's guard to land a whirring chainblade hit on her, just grunting with a 'khh--!' when Tamiel slips away to gain some space. When her darkness lances upwards, one of them is caught in the foot and then thrown off the roof by Gaonoir, collapsed and unable to stand, but the other one is mid-forward-motion, and gets skewered through the guts instead.     With Hibiki having launched the gauntlet-wielding Blood Diadem goon into a faceplanted trough across the courtyard, there's a brief lull where the fighting with Berislav inside the lobby prevents any more reinforcement from coming out that way. Petra mentions through the radio that Twopence spotted the gate guards splitting off from the Nest's wall and rushing towards the bank with their pair of halberd chainsaws, but it's still a minute before they'd arrive. That means either it's time to press harder into the building, or meet them halfway and hope to draw other reinforcements filtering in away from the bank. "So think now about whether you'll live today for a place in it tomorrow, or whether you'll die for *nothing.*"     "You're a fucking maniac," spits the woman on the ground, towards the 'idea of the world improving'. The other two Syndicate goons groan and whine on the ground where Berislav caught them with followup bullets or blows with the bodies of his guns, but this woman alone keeps posting and tries to fumble for her chainsaw-sword with her one working hand. "You're one of 'em culties, aren't you?" "Uh... Just watch your step on the way out! Short steps, don't run!"     Bonk. The fleeing civilian doesn't stop to actually listen to Odette, so she immediately slips and tumbles onto her face. Unfortunately, she was the only one who actually went that direction! There's several other hostages somewhere, but one of them went downstairs to the second floor, hiding behind the rest of the Blood Diadem out of the expectation that the Watch is here to hurt them!
Petra Soroka	"Cinder stopped answering my texts."     Petra stops cold, flickering in place rather than continuing even one step closer to Yuri. Those words, as a greeting, make her tighten her grip on Fourth Match Flame and tense her jaw, instead of whatever else she might have said otherwise. Petra's eyes skip up and down to Yuri's seemingly increased corrosion, and in response, the glowing charcoal veins on Fourth Match Flame's blade heat up brighter.     "... Well, if you'd been around, maybe you could've taken her place. Bitch. But you had more important priorities, like betraying us and shacking up with some no-name fucking street gang, huh?" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka clears her throat a little shakily. "That's the EGO, I guess." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "In addition to the ice stuff that'll slow you down, that one does attack your willingness to fight directly. So expect mental fuckery stuff too."     Petra readies Fourth Match Flame when Yuri rushes towards her, but she clicks her tongue when Saya intercepts. Petra drives her own kick into Yuri's side while her foot is raised to keep her from stomping on Saya, and follows up with a hard step forwards and a pivot into intercepting Yuri's next attack on the heated blade. More scornfully than she means to, she says to Saya, "Didn't I tell you to treat EGOs with respect? Go, Odette, I'll cover you." "Did she die a hero like she always wanted? Or have I not suffered enough yet?"     "Have *you* not suffered enough?! She's the one who's *dead*, you fucking freak!"     Petra's voice pitches up into a bit of a squeal as she tries to slam Yuri against the hallway wall, using the morphmetal lattice over her arms to add a little more oomph to her elbow to Yuri's chest. Fourth Match Flame is kept close between both of them, interposed like a shield moreso than wielded actively. Dulling the numbing cold of Frost Splinter lets Petra move quickly enough to close in for a punch to Yuri's jaw.     "I *asked* about you! I went *looking* for you! And you were out here doing *this*, and *that's* what you say to me?!"     Odette doesn't even have the luxury of just trying to hide from Yuri, though! This floor is a hallway with offices to either side, fitted with the general necessities of life like clotheslines and scattered dirty plates and clothes, and those offices start opening up to even more Blood Diadem! Petra has her hands full with Yuri, and one of the offices on this floor contains a computer console Petra needs to access still, and then there's the vault below here!
Gaonoir	"Interesting seeing another darkness wielder for a change," Gaonoir comments to Tamiel as he sets down on the roof. Then tilts his head a bit, listening to the comms. "Sounds like they have the reinforcements in hand, guess we should head inside." Which is exactly what he's going to do, to help with getting deeper into the structure where they need to go. Now that he's just jogging along rather than flying at full speed, Erika climbs over his shoulders to sit on his back. This position is a bit safer, relatively speaking. It also frees up both Gaonoir's arms. Any enemies they encounter on the way to meet up with others are going to have to deal with him throwing darkness-charged gauntlet clad punches to quickly get them out of their way of meeting up with the breech team farther inside. This was serious and there was little time to spare, so he's going to bulldoze through anything else that gets in his way.
Tamiel Luxis	Tamiel can't help but stare, for a moment, as the gang member walks right into her shadowy lance. She gnaws on her lip, for a moment, as Gao runs toward the breach. "R-right. I'll be down right after you..." She paced, back and forth, as they bled out at her feet.     But it didn't take more than a few seconds before she made a decision. She ripped the chainsaw-gun, from their arm, throwing it off the side of the building. "If you want to live." She said, half-pleading, leaning down, pressing her hand into the wound. "...You'll stay down."     A brief, intense flash of light came from her hand, coercing a body back together. You're not dead already, are you...?     "What am I DOING." She hissed, pulling her hand back. The shadows slurped her up, and then she was gone, rushing down the side of the building toward where her shadow was currently waving like a signalman.     Anyone who was expecting waves of very human assailaints might just overlook a darting line of shadows, following down into the bank, toward the cold and the ultimate confrontation.
Veronica	After a short exchange with Hibiki, the decision is reached to remain aboveground and outside the bank, and withdraw from that inner courtyard to catch reinforcements on the way in. Turning around, Veronica spots the glint of streetlights off one of the many sawblades lodged in Baker and Seventh's body - those could be hand-holds to anyone with gloves and courage, and she doesn't want to get clambered on again. With a concentrated mental exertion she wills the body to free itself of the blades leaving them to clatter to the ground in a heap. Deep gouges show in the brick- and stonework but already those wounds begin to fill in with fresh mortar or cement.     As Veronica charges back out of the courtyard she blares her speakers like a train horn again, hoping the rough Doppler effect of a loud moving object will cue Blood Diadem's reinforcements to meet her and Hibiki outside the 'castle' gates. Where she and the Symphogear wielder will be ready. Before the gate guards arrive, Veronica raises an arm and telekinetically 'grabs' a few cars, dumpsters, or other nearby Big Stuff and relocates it into the castle's front entryway. Together the obstructions form a low wall that someone of her or Hibiki's strength could jump with ease where less-enhanced people would have to slowly climb over.     The reinforcements arrive, waving chainsaw-spears at Baker and Seventh from a rough, vaguely-disciplined formation. Seeing enough powered blades to give even something of her size a hard time, Veronica opts for a marginally subtler approach. Without a sound (aside from the fog-horn blasts) or a gesture (aside from stepping with remarkable agility out of spears'-reach) she directs Baker and Seventh's telekinetic might toward the reinforcements' weapons. Or is it HER telekinetic might? It's hard for even her to say where one ends and the other begins.     With a great crunching and squealing the shafts of the chainspears buckle and bend and braid together, being pulled from the hands of the guards farther to each side and twisted up into what may be the most dangerous bouquet the City has ever seen. With a nest of chainsaws at one end and a mass of twisted metal below, the result may still be usable as a battering ram but it'd take a lot of coordination to bring it to bear against Baker and Seventh. Coordination the guards may not find in themselves once Hibiki launches herself into the fray...
Father Berislav	You're a fucking maniac. You're one of 'em culties, aren't you?     Berislav's answer, perhaps vindicating her belief, is to quote scripture. "Truly I tell you, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the *least* in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." 'Least' is punctuated with the smashing of his heel through her chainsaw sword's mechanisms, shattering it into pieces.     Berislav kicks the blade away for good measure, hard enough to send it flying through the planter he'd taken cover behind. "John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'he has a demon;' the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" He shakes his head, and makes eye contact. "Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. You have a decision to make. I'll leave you to it."      Following Petra, he comes face to face with Yuri further in. You're not wrong, but the flame has been extinguished, hasn't it...?     "No," says Berislav, with measurably more warmth than he'd given the Blood Diadem enforcer. "It may seem hopelessly small in all this darkness, but as long as there are still people who will keep it alive, it never will be."     Both guns are raised with speed that belies the ease with which it's done. Five shots between the two of them. Three fly for Yuri's shoulder, elbow and ankle immediately; the trajectories are chosen specifically so that if she blocks two, she'll take the third, and the only way to avoid all three is to get off of Saya.     Didn't I tell you to treat EGOs with respect? Go, Odette, I'll cover you.      "Likewise. Thank you, Petra." Both guns are twirled to make guards for his forearms again. This time, he's faster than he was; fast enough that his blink-and-miss-it gap close on Yuri leaves phantom afterimages of himself. Rather than try and block like Saya had, he keeps the guns constantly moving in his hands, keeping inside her threat range to bait an attack and cut across it with overwhelming force.     "The best way to survive the cold is together. I'm so sorry this place has taken that from you," he says--and he means it. There is no followup 'hers wasn't the only warmth in the world;' he knows better than to try and 'solve' the feelings of someone dealing with loss.     More Blood Diadem filter out from the offices. Petra has countermeasures against EGO; he's certain that he does, as well, but she and Odette likely need more cover from the oncoming Diadem than from Yuri. He fades, halting his whirling guns to flash her with the muzzles and discourage pursuit. The last two should both work here.      He kneels in place, holds both guns out in a way that would shatter the wrists of any non-augmented person who'd fire them that way. Then he pulls the trigger, the guns kept from bucking only by impossible strength. Full-metal jacket bullets rip through opening doors and knees alike, overpenetrating easily a door or two down each.      "Today is the end of Blood Diadem," he shouts. "You can help kill it by leaving for good, or die for it and face your final judgment. You'll all have until we're finished here to decide."
Odette Raskins	At least one person's going in the right direction. Despite the ice coming from Yuri's weapon, Odette's still sweating slightly as she realizes that all the other hostages must have gone further downstairs. That's just going to make the whole situation with the Blood Diadem members and actually getting Petra where she needs to go even harder, and that's without even factoring Yuri into the mix! With Petra and Berislav joining forces to keep her covered, though, Odette can at least focus on what she was brought here to do. "On it!" Sprinting for Saya immediately afterwards, she keeps her head down while sliding just under those intersecting EGO weapons, rotating briefly before she comes to a stop besides Saya with the warming spray readied in one hand and a . "Sorry. This'll burn a bit!" She promptly sprays that icy wound wound on Saya's chest with the stuff to help neutralize the damage from the ice, if not necessarily getting rid of the ice itself since her medication isn't also conveniently hot. It'll help keep the wound from becoming frostbitten, at least, and in time for Odette to hoist Saya up in something resembling a princess-carry because she can't just throw her over her shoulder without the risk of jamming the icy parts in deeper. The next hard part, though, is figuring out which way to actually bring Saya for proper treatment. She still needs to get rid of that ice somehow to make sure Saya doesn't freeze to death, but there's still the looming presence of both Yuri and the Blood Diadem on this floor, the hostages on the floor below, and the objective to actually find Petra's access point on this floor. Thankfully, Petra's got Yuri's attention, and Berislav's taking aim at the Blood Diadem. "Thank you! I'll get her back on her feet, and then... We can finish things up here!" She shouts while scurrying past the two with Saya in tow, kicking one of the office doors open  after Berislav blasts through it with his guns. "If you're hurt and want to live, stay here so I can get to you! If you're fine, then get out of here! He means it!" The EMT shouts, both trying to sound threatening despite also kind of pleading for the Blood Diadem members to leave. She really does need one of those tables to get to work treating Saya, after all, and she really doesn't want to have to stab someone to do it. Her bag's open enough, though, that the sword inside it is quite visible right at the top of her pile of things in there. Odette even looks jumpy enough to use it.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Haaaah..." Hibiki's shoulders briefly slouch as she makes sure nobody is getting back up - or that the gunner's gun won't unjam any time soon - before she inspects her chainsaw-damaged gauntlet with a frown beneath her scarf. Taking a finger and carefully pushing at the edge of the gash, a bit of pressure deforms it slightly further before she pulls it back. "...Brittle..." She closes her eyes and shakes her head, refocusing.     No more reinforcements from the inside... that must mean the breach team have gotten their attention. Five floored out here, and not all of them were here in the first place, so that should be a pretty decent hit to their manpower... though Hibiki glances back over her shoulder where they came in from when she gets Petra's message about the the other guards at the Nest's walls starting to double back. "--At least two more, and no guarantee there couldn't be more besides them..."     What do you think, Hibiki? Inside I may not be able to follow past the ground floor, I think we should stay out here and keep reinforcements busy.     In, or out? Glancing silently around the fallen Blood Diadem members in various states of incapacitation, part of her hesitates. What about the ones inside...? If I get in there now, I might be able to stop some of them from acting stupid and getting themselves killed. Not to mention the hostages. I already knew this could never be completely clean... but... A low sound leaves her throat.     But ultimately, she makes the call to stop them from getting pincered, and things potentially getting even messier. Trusting the in-teams, in other words. Is it the smarter choice? Maybe. "Stay down. I mean it," she says with a flat, 'not asking' tone to any still-conscious Diadem thugs out here as she turns towards the courtyard exit with Veronica. "...Or I'll make you wish you did."     ...     The defensive preparations are left to Veronica. She's no good at that sort of thing herself. But what Hibiki Tachibana /is/ fairly good at is the follow-up; standing atop the rearranged vehicles and otherwise, she's in the prime position to kneel low as Baker and Seventh takes the reinforcements' amassed weapons and contorts them out of shape - and quite literally /launch/ herself into the whole lot of them, fast enough to leave two boot-shaped dents in the dumpster she propelled herself off of. "Haaaaaaaaaahhhh--!"     After tackling into one of them fist-first and sending him tumbling a good ten meters, she rises up in the middle of them all and immediately begins wreaking havoc as a whirl of elbow strikes, viciously strong hooks, and jumping kicks that carry her from one thug to the next.     Without proper weapons to make use of, a lot of people would be hard-pressed to measure up to her in a close quarters brawl. A fact she intends to make use of by /aggressively/ trying to disable all of them as soon as possible.     Well, as aggressive as one can be when only trying to knock the fight out of them, anyway.
Angela	''But you had more important priorities, like betraying us and shacking up with some no-name fucking street gang, huh?'' "I'm in this position because of YOU people, asshole! Did you forget you people put a BOMB in my eye? And guess which gang got ahold of the control codes!" Yuri jumps back rather than take that kick, interrupting the strike. She smashes her EGO against Petra's, steam rolling up between elementally opposed weapons. ''She's the one who's *dead*, you fucking freak!'' "Do you not even remember saying that to me?" Yuri asks. "That I needed to suffer more. You left me starving in that cell until these idiots showed up and forced me into their crew. You left me buried alive and you..you let her... You could've told her to stay out of it, you KNEW that the fall was coming, how bad the final days could be..." She slices across the bullets, freezing and shattering them as they fly out towards her. Her freezing of her heart, the splinter in her eye--feeds off Yuri's grief and growing emptiness. She cannot see a warm world right now. "She was my best friend... My hero. She saved me but gradually... she lost her fire and...I thought you'd..." She rubs at her eye with her hand. "God. Fuck! Fuck!!" Tears spill out of one of her eyes, the other eye doesn't seem capable of crying right now. Yuri can't move as fast as Berislav, but eruptions of ice keep bursting out of the floor as she swings her blade around, making it difficult to target her further with those guns of his. "I'm not--I'm not going down to a Sinner who's given up on Heaven..." She is clearly capitalizing that S. What future did she see when she looked in that mirror? ''The best way to survive the cold is together'' Berislav might mean it, but Yuri doesn't seem to believe him. "Stop...Stop pretending like you care. You'd sacrifice us too." Yuri says, swiping at an afterimage of Berislav--She doesn't seem inclined to specifically go out of her way to murder Saya--or go after a medic. You can force someone to fight with a bomb in their eye, but you can't make them fight as hard as brutally as possible--especially not in this chaotic mess. But she does throw that apple at Berislav's hands trying to knock a gun out of his hands. ''Didn't I tell you to treat EGOs with respect?'' "Haffh... I still underestimated..." Saya manages miserably. ''I *asked* about you! I went *looking* for you!'' "...You... But... It had been so long..." A moment of hesitation allows her to clobber Yuri in the jaw and she hits the floor, back first. She stands herself back up quickly enough. "...Why... Why did she show me that future... Why did she exact that price from me? I just wanted us to live without being crushed by the gears of this City and...and you all said you cared. And you made us think you cared... But we were disposable weren't we? For your dreams? That's all we've ever been. If I hadn't agreed, I'd have been crushed under rubble, waiting for rescue as we traded lives for time to a wheel of death..." There's a sense that she's being less metaphorical than it sounds.
Angela	A pulse of energy erupts out from her in the moment, pushing anyone who is too close to her away from a moment. Petra's seen this before. Yuri's eyes focus on a point where nobody is. "....Wha... who... who are you?" Yuri stammers. Why are you showing me...?" I am Carmen. You sacrificed so much for my dream... I can't give you back what you lost... ... You got a glimpse of it, haven't you? ... The realms within the reflections. I see it too. So many of them. So many worlds where you die too. "...I don't want to die... Is that too much to ask for? I still don't want to die. But I would've ... I would've taken her place, I owed her that much." But it isn't what you wanted, was it? You wanted to be the fruit of discord that changed the course of tragedy. You thought you had an advantage... But while you changed the course of this world... People don't change that easily. They'll detonate the bomb soon... But I'd like to help you-- Yuri is quiet. What is Carmen saying to her? It's hard to say but she says, evnetually, "No..." Awww, you sure? Nobody'd ever forget about you again. "...No... I... I'm done with taking strange deals." The aura around Yuri fades and she swallows faintly and rushes to clash with the Fourth Match Flame again. "My eye." She murmurs. "Right eye. It's in my right eye. Please... be quick." This gives Odette time to drag Saya away from the increasingly freezing communal area.
Petra Soroka	The goon that Tamiel heals flops around for a second, then lays flat. It's hard to say whether it's because of heeding Tamiel's advice, or because the process of getting re-embowled took a lot out of them, but either way, they're alive and still, giving her the opportunity to slip away into the shadows guilt-free.     Out where Veronica and Hibiki clash with the reinforcements, the two Blood Diadem guards are *entirely* unsuspecting that the foghorn warning sounds could be from a massive concrete mech. They attack Baker and Seventh entirely by instinct, before she even makes a threatening motion towards them, out of the expectation that she *must* be some sort of new fucked up monster sent by god or the devil to harass them for no reason. They immediately panic when their halberds are ripped out of their hands, and when Hibiki comes after them too, one of them tries to hurl the chainsaw-bouquet at her, and the other one-- semingly augmented in some way-- takes several punches before going down, trying to grapple her down. "You have a decision to make. I'll leave you to it."     The woman lays still now, injured and disarmed, but Berislav can guess what her answer will be by the glare in her eyes. Maybe the next few minutes will change that, though. She's positioned with a view of either staircase, if she can get a glimpse of her allies' fates from there. "Today is the end of Blood Diadem,"     And the type of fate that she might she reveals itself shortly after Berislav's deafening reports echo up from the lower level. At first, Berislav's declaration seems like it rouses the Blood Diadem to further determination, to Save this place that they've built together. Doors are busted open and people grasp for their weapons or already started to rev them up from the activity upstairs. But quickly, as the first wave of them collapse to the ground shouting and clutching at their knees, the tenor of the frenzy changes.     Several Blood Diadem members blanch and look around to check who might be watching, before breaking ranks and dashing upstairs. One door is opened with the hostage from upstairs kicked out at bullet-height, hoping to bait a shot from Berislav to give themselves an opening to run away. The majority stay, and in the midst of people trying to close in on Berislav with chainsaw polearms or throwing them as javelins, there's a lot of shouting in Yuri's direction about 'We still have *her*, so she can make an opening for us!'     In those conditions, Tamiel could be walking as a human and people might just let her pass in the hopes that she takes a bullet for them. As a shadow, she can end up wherever she wants to go.
Petra Soroka	"Did you forget you people put a BOMB in my eye? And guess which gang got ahold of the control codes!"     "H-huh?" Petra is visibly taken aback by Yuri's shouting. When Yuri presses Frost Splinter against Fourth Match Flame, Petra slips back a half-step, before throwing herself at Yuri again. "Do you not even remember saying that to me?"     It was-- a very, very long time ago for Petra. In the time before the utter upheavel and recontexualization of her life that was the war, there's plenty of words she said that she remembers the feelings of, but not the sounds. But just the fact that Yuri is *right* that Petra did forget doesn't make Petra any less angry at her.     "What, you want me to fucking have *sympathy* for you now? Do you think I *wanted* her to die?! There was no-- I had no-- ugh--!" Petra swings her sword frustratedly as the ice drives her away from Yuri, getting increasingly distraught and fumbling for words. "Shut up!! Shut up! I--!" "You'd sacrifice us too."     "Fuck you! Fuck you for saying it like that! Fuck you for acting like I *wanted* any of this!"     The Blood Diadem members don't seem to think that Yuri getting into a dramatic shouting duel over people they don't know is much to remark on. That's just her, their weird weaponized enslaved dog who's covered in ice and looks sad all the time. That's what she does! Even in these circumstances, they seem to think that she's an effective enough weapon to guarantee their survival. "I just wanted us to live without being crushed by the gears of this City and...and you all said you cared."     "Fuck you. I-it's unfair." Petra stands over Yuri with her breath heaving, grip trembling on Fourth Match Flame like she's unsure whether to try to stab Yuri through the chest with it or not. Her voice shakes, and she doesn't immediately move to try to capitalize on Yuri's weakness. "This City's going to be un-fucking-recognizable when I'm through with it. Y-you... I don't want...." "....Wha... who... who are you?"     Petra's thrown back and her eyes widen. She tries to struggle to her feet, but the impending Distortion keeps her down for *just* too long. She also yells back at the voice, despite the fact that she, along with everyone else, can't hear it. "Not fucking *now*! Get away from her! I'm not going to let you...!"     The end of Carmen's dialogue sizzles off in the presence of Petra's aura as she jumps back towards Yuri. She clicks her tongue in annoyance and glances away from Yuri's eyes, keeping her voice low. "Fucking fine. You want proof that you won't be sacrificed?"     Just then, a rumbling comes from the stairwell that leads down to the vault. A massive man with a uniquely red and gold mantle and a chainsaw axe with blades made of fragments of ruby breaks open the door, swinging the axe around threateningly as it rips through the walls like tissue paper. He rears back to try and bash Berislav from behind while he's aiming suppressive fire down the hallway at the rest of Blood Diadem.     "You break into *my* domain and tell me *my* reign is over? Nosiree, I think--"     A cable of morphmetal darts out of Petra's sleeve, with cords wrapped around Fourth Match Flame's handle, to lop off the Blood Diadem king's head mid-sentence. It retracts back to Petra's hand, and she swings an arc of flame around to try to counteract the building icy mist.     "Odette. Operate on her. If she needs to be held down for it, I'll do it."
Father Berislav	Stop...Stop pretending like you care. You'd sacrifice us too.     "I've given up on *my spot* in heaven, to push back the hell that's taken over the earth. To make it easier for people like you to take *your* place in heaven."     He stands up from his kneel, cylinders swinging out. Casings fall in a short, chiming rain. "Why wouldn't I give you the same chance I've given *these* people, when it's clear you don't agree with them and aren't even here of your own will?" He sidesteps the apple, not willing to put forth the energy of his aggressive fighting style towards it. Smashing it feels wrong in a way he can't articulate.     The energy pulse pushes him backwards. But he doesn't stop trying to save someone who really, truly wants it. "Odette might be able to do something about that bomb," he says, getting back to his feet. His eyes are on the Diadem, tracking them as he displays inhuman dexterity; cartridges emerge from subspace tears, trapped between his palms and the grips of his revolvers. His hands flow like water, flexing to let them slide down the frame with his index both guiding them and turning the cylinders. "Which eye?" He hadn't heard the murmur, due to his distance. Both cylinders swing back into place.      The hostage doesn't move him--there *is* another shot, but it's hollow point, aimed at the oncoming javelins. These are farm from the first people to try that trick. "Come this way," he says, waving the hostage over without looking at them. "She's a medic," he says with a motion of his head towards Odette. "Stay close to her until we can get you clear--" You break into *my* domain and tell me *my* reign is over? Nosiree, I think--      Berislav's foot crashes backwards into the king's sternum on thoughtless reflex, generating distance as he turns to put his back to the wall and split his attention between two avenues of attack. "That settles that," he says, as the king's lifeless body crumples. "Thank you, Petra."      "I assume it was him that had the code?" he asks of Yuri, turning to put his full attention back on the hallway and the suppresive fire for Odette, Yuri and Petra.      "Your 'king' is dead, and you're far from the first to try to use hostages against me," shouts Berislav down the hall. "Run if you want, but leave this abusive delusion behind you when you do, and don't look back."
Tamiel Luxis	The little shadow watches as bits of masonry fly way, the scenery chewed away by bullets far stronger than anything Tamiel had seen firsthand before. An unremarkable shadow watched, and from somewhere there was a gasp as a hostage was sent flying into the line of fire.     A worn of shadow twined its way into the room from the roof, and a shape fell down from the ceiling behind them. A shard of something glassy slipped from the girl-shape, into her hand, and then into the back of the one who threw the hostage into the open. "Those who prey on the meek," she recites, as if by rote. "Have no right to protest their retribution."     But the course of the fight was clear, by then. She stepped out into the open, bloody wing-shard in her hand, feeling...Awkward. She takes one look at Petra and Yuri, before deciding she doesn't need otherworldly senses to understand how little it is her business. She addresses Berislav, instead. "If you can show me to the vault, I can open it up..."
Angela	''I've given up on my spot in heaven, to push back the hell that's taken over the earth'' "That sounds like Lobcorp." Yuri says, grimly, but frankly she doesn't have a better option because Bersilav is right, Yuri doesn't actually want to be the beaten up enforcer for, like, some awful tinpot gang destined to be slaughtered by or absorbed by a Finger if they didn't get slaughtered today. ''Which eye?'' #-1 FUNCTION (ASNI) NOT FOUNDRight." Yuri says again, giving Petra a long look. That startled surprise catches Yuri off guard. She didn't know? But she, Angela, and Lilian are the ones who sent her off to that prison to begin with. Yuri feels her eye throbbing with stress and tension and the knowledge that a bomb with enough firepower to blast off her head into next week is embedded inside of it. ''Fuck you for acting like I *wanted* any of this!'' "You're...you're all so invincible and you're saying... I don't know what happened, I don't know! I just--...I fucked up and I begged her, I begged her and I can't believe it was just inevitable, that oh well there was nothing that could've been done and--" ''This City's going to be un-fucking-recognizable when I'm through with it.'' That seems to be what drains the rest of the fight out of her. "Y-yeah...? You'll do that...?" Of course if she stops fighting now-- --well, uh, nevermind. The king is dead. But Yuri is uncertain if she can really rely on only one guy knowing the command codes. Any Blood Diadem member who fled might know it and that means another chain around her neck. And right now Yuri wants to move to taking hold of her own destiny. And she can't rely on some miracle giver to provide it. "Okay..." Yuri says softly. "I like the sound of that..." And she hands herself over for the horrible operation! She screams a lot even with anesthesia but does her best to remain very still for the bomb disposal slash surgery. A proper conversation can take place after.
Odette Raskins	"Did you forget you people put a BOMB in my eye?" "You left me starving in that cell . . ." "You left me buried alive . . ." The more Odette listens to Yuri and Petra, the more questions come to mind that she has no time to get answers to. There's a battle going on that takes plenty of effort just to stay out of the way from, although the longer she scurries around, the faster she realizes that Yuri isn't actually aiming at her. At one point, she even stops to watch Yuri battling with Berislav and Petra, hands still moving rapidly to treat Saya's ice-inflicted wounds with a combination of hand-warmers and medication to bring her temperature back up safely. Seeing none of the swings coming anywhere close to her nor Saya confirms it all, and her mind starts to race again on how to do anything about this situation. There's a bomb in her eye. Which eye? How sensitive is it to tampering? Is it set to detonate if Yuri dies, if she takes too long, if someone just hits a button? Is there a way to get it out before it can be detonated? Odette's hands shake a bit as she keeps working on Saya, slowing down a little when she hears Yuri talking to somebody that she can't actually see. "Is someone there? Miss Yuri? Petra?" She asks as she looks over at Petra, grimacing when she appears to actually recognize what's going on. "Get away from her!" "Down!" Odette draws a scalpel from her bag and whips it past Petra and Yuri, like she's trying to lodge it into some kind of unseen enemy. It doesn't actually hit anything, though, and a mixed noise of apprehension and relief comes out of Odette when she realizes her gut reaction to do that didn't lead to someone actually getting stabbed. The tension doesn't fully leave her body, though, since there's still the very real threat of the bomb hidden in Yuri's head exploding. "Gotta be some way to get it out..." She murmurs to herself whilst picking Saya back up with a strained grunt, hoofing it back to one of the emptied-out rooms that's at least warmer than here. "It's in my right eye. Please... be quick." "Odette. Operate on her." "Huh? O-on it!" She calls out as she returns from one of the offices a few seconds later, quickly taking stock of what she has to work with here. The communal room probably hasn't been cleaned in days, maybe weeks, so it's definitely not a sterile environment to operate in. There might be alcohol around at best, but Odette can't bank on any of it being both good enough to sterilize the area without also causing Yuri to recoil from getting booze sprayed into her eyes. She has sedatives and numbing agents in her bag, but that's making a lot of assumptions about how much time she even has to work on Yuri before whoever's controlling the bomb figures out what's going on. Also, she's never defused a bomb before, and operating on someone's eyeball is a little out of her league. Still, she's removed foreign objects from strange places plenty of tiems, and she's done alright in the simulations, so it should be okay! Odette just needs to keep reminding herself that (and definitely not scaring anybody by bringing it up) while she preps the operating area with her jacket as a pillow and takes out a large sheet that'll be used to cover the area around Yuri's eye. "Up here, Miss Yuri. I've got this." She slaps the table once while tightening her cap to make sure her hair doesn't go all over the place while she's working. "Breathe, injection coming in. Say when you stop feeling the pinching." Odette puts a clothespin on Yuri's ear, but she could end up falling asleep before the feeling goes away. "Hold her steady. I'm.. Starting."
Odette Raskins	She takes one deep, shivering breath, then gets to work. Despite having her mouth closed the entire time, her teeth chatter inside her head for a good while even as she moves her hands precisely and swiftly, almost like she's in a trance. Once she locates the bomb, the chattering stops abruptly, and her clothes barely even make a shuffling noise while she handles Yuri's eye and the bomb delicately. It's not until the foreign object is fully extracted that she either hands it off to whoever's waiting to take it, or just deposits it in her bag before closing up Yuri's face with a combination of dissolving stitches and more medicated bandages. "... Done." She announces once the work is done, then drops right to the ground on her ass with loud exhale. Despite standing in one place for what feels like an eternity, the medic is sweating profusely by the time she finishes, and she yelps lightly through clenched teeth as she rubs her jaws to finally loosen them back up. She's going to be whining about that jaw soreness for a little while.