Scene #9515: Trídéag: Weather Report Calls For Stray Dogs (Part 1)

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Angela	The Stray Dogs have been ambushing Trídéag for nearly as long as it has been established, scattering when backup arrived. In doing so they disrupted patrols, wounded Trídéag Fixers, and were generally hella annoying. Frequently back at HQ, they were the subjects of complaints and grumbling by the local Fixers. Pete has tried to lead them into traps but so far his attempts have been eluded. Pete's increasingly sour mood about the Stray Dogs has filtered across the Rats, except apparently Knifty who is as perky as ever though occasionally she stares at Pete while gripping her broom tightly... The Stray Dogs are a known subsidiary of The Thumb but The Thumb itself has never harassed Trídéag. They've also been confirmed, thanks to San, to be working with The Zwei Association in order to get a comprehensive map of District 12 in exchange for information on Distortions, most likely at the behest of The Thumb as the Kurokumo presence in the City has diminished considerably due to its loss to the Yurodiviye-Blade Lineage recent alliance...and the failure of many of its officers at returning from the Library. The Stray Dogs themselves are a heavily augmented group with top of the line tattoos and heavily built bodies. What they lack in skill they make up for with pure power. But this time... Weather Report and Joanne have recently been recruited into Trídéag proper. Joanne has been knocked down to a Grade Seven Fixer as she had been replaced as the Silver Color well before The Hunt For Nonon's Treasure and also because she not just failed to successfully complete her last mission, she never even reported in. U Corp's ire has resulted in a severe demotion. Joanne isn't participating in this adventure, but Weather Report is a former Nest Reporter who fell on hard times after Distorting. Her head transforms based on her mood to various 'weather symbols'. She claims that this helps her be understood. She's the first Distortion to join Trídéag but being treated like any other recruit has encouraged the rest of Trídéag to treat her normally as well. Solace is, as one might expect, the most uneasy about her presence but if her experiences with Rita have indicated anything, it might only be temporary. She's so enthusiastic that she wants to hit the ground running and she's heard that a nearby Yurodiviye distribution center has some spare heaters and other supplies that could be gotten on the cheap to help replace some of Trídéag's that had inconveniently broken down right as the weather's starting to cool down. The distribution center is a place formerly called Sam's Groceries but has been taken over by the Yurodiviye as a central location to store supplies from outside the District to provide the locals. Because of a strong suspicion that this trip will lead into an ambush from the Stray Dogs, thanks to a well-timed warning from a Matilda divination, Pete came up with a plan hoping to turn the tables on the Stray Dogs. He and Finn would escort Weather Report to the distribution center while others from Trídéag would remain on standby some distance away. Far enough to avoid detection from the Stray Dogs' own lookouts but close by enough that they could provide backup before the Stray Dogs could retreat. Knifty, the most easily overlooked person in The City, will more closely shadow Pete and Finn to try and track down their hideout.
Angela	About a half an hour into their trip, Finn sends out a call for assistance. "Stray Dog ambush! Bigger than before!" Finn announces over the Trídéag band. "We're on site at Sam's Groceries!" Upon arrival at Sam's Groceries... Knifty is nowhere to be seen but there's a large crowd of heavily muscled men with various augmentation tats crowded around a broken window and also within the Grocery Store itself. Finn has positioned himself back into a corner between two aisles to force the Stray Dogs to only approach him a few at a time. Pete has a bloodied sword but seems to have taken a heavy enough hit to his right arm that it's broken and bruised, he's sitting on the floor, with his uninjured arm holding out a sword, trying to protect Finn's flank. So far Finn and Pete have been able to knock down or take down three of the Stray Dogs. Weather Report is presently expressing a floating raining cloud and holding a pair of shopping bags close to her chest and a camping backpack across her back. There's a pair of Yurodiviye agents manning the counter, one of whom looks suspiciously like Yuri from Lobotomy Corp because she is Yuri from Lobotomy Corp now sporting a new eyepatch, still carrying Frost Splinter on her back and in a Yurodiviye uniform (a green coat with a pair of two chest pouches and a white scarf with a triangle and diamond black pattern). The other is a white haired man with purple eyes, leaning on the counter. He is wearing a similar uniform, though his is grey, and he's also wearing a pair of yellow goggles around his neck. He is openly armed with a large black sword with a yellow tassel fastened to its hilt but the bandolier wrapped around his leg suggests he has some measure of firearm. "Get back you jerks...!" Weather Report shouts back. "You've overextended yourselves this time. You're not getting away this time..." Finn, breathing heavily, waits for the Stray Dogs to get closer, having shifted wholly to a defensive stance. "Yeah yeah..." The apparent leader, a white haired man with a side-shave and dog collar says. His muscular bare chest is heavily scarred and he's wearing rather plain looking black slacks. He's got a pair of earrings in his right ear. "This is all going to be Thumb turf soon enough. Their only real competition is the Index and their messenger has been practically begging us to give up so I don't think they'll be much of a problem. Once they send in their big guns, even Outsiders won't be able to withstand those numbers. Gyeong-mi wanted to go bigger so we'll just have to make sure to leave a big enough message this time." "...Ugh, Sonya..." Yuri is muttering to her companion. "I hate these guys." "Mm...until the Father gives the word, we remain patient. Don't worry, Yuri... I think these young Fixers might just have a plan." rThat's when one of Stray Dog lookouts spots incoming Elites, "Dino! We gotta hurry and make ourselves scarce!" Pete chuckles from the floor. "Dumbasses... You're just hopped up on being a little stronger than everyone else... God I hated taking orders from you." He grins bloodily at Dino. "We had our girl shadowing us and she's going to lead us straight to your hideout. I know you all like taking time with your prey so we just had to drag it out..." Dino stomps down on Pete's broken arm. Pete gets a swipe across his chest with his sword but Dino's tattoos resist the blade from digging in deep. "Give a Rat a home and suddenly they think they're a big dog." He mutters.
Riku Asakura	Riku, while standing on standby, is wearing his Trideag uniforma professional suit with polished shoes and a polished, all-around professional style look. He's got some doodads on his belt, too. A blue canister that holds capsules that he occasionally flips through to see if they are still there, and a strange device with a trigger on it. This is known as the Fusion Riser, allowing him to take his Ultraman form should the need arise. And the need arises, being called over the radio, Riku spends no time transforming into Ultraman Geed Primitive. He soars through the sky towards the Stray Dogs and immediately tries to tackle his way through the group. Geed, taking a form larger than a human, but smaller than a building, will be hard to deal with, especially as he decides to get into fisticuffs with the group of them, trying to knock them out rather than seriously hurt or kill any of them. He's trying to get to Pete, who looks currently the most hurt, and trying to get him clear. "Give up now and stand down," Riku says to the leader. Ready to grow larger should the need arise, but he also has a bag of tricks at his disposal. Which means lots of energy blasts to hurt them should they decide they want to fight.
Kale Hearthward	"I swear, I take one little break... and the city goes to the dogs." Kale swoops in. If at all possible, he's the very first Elite on the scene. That hasn't changed. Others might opt to track down the fleeing Stray Dogs, or handle recovery of the other fixers, or set up ambushes. That's fine. Kale knows his role, and that role is and always has been being big and loud. "Trideag on the scene! Throw down your weapons!" yells the hawkman, hovering overhead, revving up his drill sword. Look at him! Ignore all the other things going on. Certainly there isn't someone more important you should be paying attention to right now. If DIno hasn't gotten clear of Pete yet, Kale swoops down, swinging, trying to drive him off.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	The plan is simple, classic even: lure the foe into the open with suitable bait, and chase them back to their hole. Only catch is, the 'suitable bait' needs to be recovered in one piece, and it's approaching less-than-whole status already. From her perch atop the building across the way, Madeleine hears the Stray Dog lookout call attention to the other Elites' presence, and then, a little quieter, Pete getting his arm stepped on. She winces at the cry of pain. But Madeleine is still a professional. The ground-floor operatives have their ground-floor work, and she has her own duties to attend to up above. Right now, the Dogs are still organized enough that a retreat to a safehouse is just as likely as a full-blown rout back to headquarters. Readying her bow, she takes aim through the broken window, waiting for the Dogs' leader to emerge. But when Dino pauses to inflict some extra cruelty, and Geed and the others move in to engage, Madeleine makes a snap decision. The Dogs don't know the elites' numbers yet, and she needs to make them doubt their security enough to bolt without orders from their freak-in-chief. Shifting her aim slightly, she focuses on one of the lookouts and looses a shot. Even if it's not enough to kill in a single blow, the leaf-shaped arrowheads shed a lot of blood and the venom will do its dirty work as well. With luck, the lookout will scream when he goes down, cueing a total, disorganized retreat.
Rita Ma	Rita feels a personal obligation to help Weather Report (and Joanne!!) integrate with the rest of Trideag; Solace especially. A 'weather report for Weather Report' has been doodled in crayon for Solace and her kids, with sketched depictions of several of her moods. (Her artstyle might exaggerate for cuteness, but Report's pretty cute already, she thinks.) She isn't on-campus when the call goes out, though. She's pitching in on maintenance for the Union Busan's power grid when her earpiece chirps at her. "Oh, I've gotta--!" "Rita! Not again!" "I'm really sorry, Mr. Huorong! This is important! I'll finish with the spool when--" "Hmph. There better be somebody dying." "There is! Sorry, sorry!" And then she's up the side of the beached ship, and through its warpgate, and... . . . Tragically Rita's fashion for this episode can't be shown off yet, because she's currently appearing as thin air. Nothing gently touches Pete's shoulder from behind, and nobody coughs and winces at the smell of blood. When Kale catches Dino's attention and gets him away, that 'nobody' pushes healing light into Pete's arm, and whispers by his ear: "It's okay now. Good job. Um, where's Knifty? Is Mr. Finn hurt?" 'Nobody' lets a droplet of drool fall onto Pete's shirt from above, too. Thank goodness Rita can't be blamed for that.
Sarracenia	Sarra didn't like the idea of sending in the others as bait. Especially Finn, who has become one of her favorite people at Trideag along with his sister. And -especially- Weather Report, who is just delightful and cute and also doesn't like fighting. But, as it was the Plan, she stayed back as requested. She too was in her Trideag outfit, but of course hers is a custom made outfit instead of the actual standard uniform. A white silk button-up blouse with ruffles down the front, a black velvet vest with golden buttons and green lapels, and a long and slightly airy black skirt with flowing green ivy-like embroidery. The skirt reaches just past her knees, where broad-striped black and green leggings can be seen before disappearing into pointed black boots with gold zippers along the insides. She is also not the best at hiding, so has chosen to wait crouched down on a rooftop. When the call goes out, there is an explosion from that rooftop and a Bullet Bill the size of a car comes flying down and toward the store. It aims for any Stray Dogs that are on the way to the door and explodes only a few feet away from the store, sending the princess spiraling in with her hammer leading the way. She translates the spiraling to spinning as she lands like a battle top. The store might be a little worse for wear afterword, but she bounces between Dogs until she spins to a stop in front of Weather Report. Her hammer swings for the midsection of the apparent leader as she passes, and a green mushroom lands on Pete before she takes up a protective stance in front of Weather Report. "It matters little who might be backing you." she says as she reaches to pull out a Bob-omb and starts tossing it up and down in her hand while her Silver hammer rests over her shoulder. "I am Princess Sarracenia, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom, Aspiring Heroine, and perhaps most pertinent to you...Grade Six Fixer of the Trideag Association. Stand down, relinquish your weapons, and we -may- be able to work something out that does not involve serious harm to you." It is only after that Sarra raises an eyebrow at the 'Nobody' that seems to be talking nearby. Sarra lets out a confused sound, but she does understand stealth somewhat so doesn't draw attention to it any more than that. Instead, she looks over her shoulder at Weather Report. "Do not worry. You will not have to use your lightning today."
Odette Raskins	Should Odette be worried? She's totally worried. Why wouldn't she? it's the first time she'll be working with-as-in-alongside a Distortion rather than with-as-in-on a Distortion, and she's already thinking about what kinds of destruction could be wrought with just the wrong spark in Weather Report's direction. Then again, isn't that being prejudiced? She's worked with plenty of other non-human people before, and most of them have even been nice! She's had plenty of terrible experiences with humans, too, and today probably won't be anything too crazy to warrant worrying about that. They already know that there's an ambush, so everything's going to be under control! With her nerves settled, Odette gets her Trideag uniform on, her sidearm loaded, and her sword strapped to her hip before sliding her carrying case strap on over her shoulder, and then she's scurrying out of her room to meet up with everyone on today's outing. That gives her nerves plenty of time, then, to start getting a little frayed by the time word goes out that the ambush has started. <<"E-even bigger? Alright, uh. Be careful, and we'll be over soon!">> ODette responds on the Trideag band, taking a deep breath as she does one more check in her case to make sure everything is right where she needs it to be before sliding out of her hiding spot inside a (mostly) empty dumpster from a nearby-ish alleyway. Her main concern, as usual, is ensuring nobody dies in the process of springing the ambush on the ambush, and she skulks out of that alley to scurry towards the grocery store while the Stray Dogs might be a little distracted by her louder allies' antics. <<"Does anyone have eyes on Knifty? There's a lot of Stray Dogs inside, and... I'll get in and back up-um.">> Peering into the store through some broken glass, Odette spots a few familiar faces, and she gets a particularly notable anxiety spike when she sees Weather Report. Is that a good shape or a bad shape? Is she close to distorting? Is that a sign there's wounds she needs to look out for? She hides under the window for a moment logner to try and calm her nerves, then peeks in a second later. Is that Pete on the ground over there? Just how many of the Stray Dogs are in there, anyway? Not enough, she hopes, and she can at least try to draw their attention her way to help scatter their numbers among the Elites actually capable of fighting them head on. Flicking a bottle and vial out of her case, she shuffles their contents in and out of each other rapidly before closing them up, then chucking the bottle at a group of Stray Dogs to shatter it on one of them in a burst of quick-scattering and quickly sinking itching powder. "H.. Hands up, and weapons down! Nobody else has to get hurt today if you give up now!" She calls out, trying to look as tall as she can while drawing her sidearm and gripping it steadily with both hands to try and look suitably intimidating in a shooting-ready stance.
Timekeeper	Brutal crackdowns on gang violence are practically what Sonetto signed up with Trideag to do-- not that she's been unhappy with the reconstruction work, but she's best put to use as a soldier. Her Association uniform is immaculate and crisply ironed, black and green with the white scabbard of Terra all'Amore on her hip, but she's spotless out of an abundance of experience doing this sort of thing rather than the opposite. Matilda's divinations are taken with the utmost confidence, so there's no question 'if' there will be conflict, but what happens and how. "The preferred tactic by violent organizations such as the Stray Dogs is to maximize the discrepency in power between themselves and their targets, in order to prey on the weak. Therefore, I believe that when it becomes apparent that they are outnumbered themselves, they will become frightened and attempt to quickly disengage. While we would like to follow them back to their base, if too many escape while remaining able-bodied, they will almost certainly scatter and make tailing them difficult." Sonetto nods with a serious expression. "We should keep this in mind to whittle them down before they are allowed to flee, and then remain vigilant to prevent the remainders from slipping into alleyways or sympathetic buildings to evade us." "Stray Dog ambush! Bigger than before!" "Copy that." When the alert calls from Finn, Sonetto is in the front doorway of Sam's Groceries, sword drawn instead of her glasfeder. As Lilian requested, she's treating her arcanum as a backup tool rather than her primary method of combat, making this the first time she's ever engaged in swordfighting with real danger on the line. You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her that she's any less comfortable with Terra all'Amore than anything else, with how ready she is to apply it. "Don't worry, Yuri... I think these young Fixers might just have a plan." "Yes sir. Please remain secure and uninvolved so that the Trideag Association may dispatch these criminals appropriately." While the Stray Dogs are ready to book it already, Sonetto is, as she said, of the opinion that they need to have some fires lit under them to disrupt their escape tactics. Finn's funneling of the Dogs is matched on the opposite side of the aisle by Sonetto, taking a surprisingly vicious attack from behind at the rear member of the clump of Syndicate goons. It scrapes down the shoulderblade of his bare back, cutting shallowly through a tattoo rather than lodging in his torso, and his swing in return is met on the wrist by the base of the blade, pulled back smoothly into a guard. "They are limited in reach, but very strong," She advises, mostly to herself, but with Finn as one of their practice trio in mind. "Similar to knife wielders but with more flexibility and fewer angles of approach. The tattoos grant them a measure of protection, do they not? Can they be disrupted?"
Lilian Rook	Lilian's policy on guys who jump her guys is well-established within Trídéag by now. Her particular fondness for the Rats that she's invested so much in training up from scratch is less explicit, but easily intuited, given the extremes she's gone to in order to avoid marching them into the Library as cannon fodder. The only reason she'd entertained a plan like this at all was that it was Pete and Finn's idea, and she has no grounds on which to deny it that aren't psychotically smothering (relative to a psychotic line of business in the first place). The fact that it serves as a mild test of Weather Report's trustworthiness is secondary. But if it could be said that there's another reason, it might be theorized that there's a certain satisfaction in getting to 'Go, my scarabs!' at the noxious bastards who've been harassing her little guys all this time. The internal popularity of this mission, when she put it to closed registration, is heartwarming, in a vindictive way. And so . . . 'This is all going to be Thumb turf soon enough.' "Fascinating. I'm just dying to know how you see that coming about." With nobody appearing at the back, somebody appears at the front, their simultaneous timing apparent to a grand total two people. Up until the exact moment she speaks, Lilian's 'arrival' is hardly any more noticeable. The effect of striding through the chaos of a full four squads of Trídéag's finest, calm as the eye of the storm yet likely the most dangerous part, is entirely intentional. "After all, that's completely impossible. If you really could solve it, you'd be the genius of this generation." 'We should keep this in mind to whittle them down before they are allowed to flee, and then remain vigilant to prevent the remainders from slipping into alleyways or sympathetic buildings to evade us.' It's funny that Lilian doesn't have to utter those words herself. One horizontal scan of the crowd confirms everything is more or less as she expects. "Sundew. For Christ's sake, dont' trash the store." she says, half-heartedly, more intent on the display of power than anything else. "Three? I'll have to drill some extra lessons into you. Finn, Pete, safeties off; you're weapons free." This is exactly the sort of situation she'd had in mind when commissioning their weapons, after all. "Rasksins, our people only. You're forbidden from treating any of the Dogs; if they die, they die. Asakura, show the employees out; see that they aren't harmed. Hearthward, you're on stragglers; otherwise engage at will. Sonetto, on point with Sundew. Cadrasteia, support Ma." 'I swear, I take one little break... and the city goes to the dogs.' "I have a way with breaking those in." Lilian says, pushing back her hair with a contemptuous little flourish. Jokes that Kale and one other person here will get.
Lilian Rook	'Similar to knife wielders but with more flexibility and fewer angles of approach. The tattoos grant them a measure of protection, do they not? Can they be disrupted?' "Good read. Let's find out." Lilian barely glances at the people she intends as she counts off on her fingers. "Poison, smoke, asphyxiation, aerial lift. I'd love to see if anyone can disrupt an augmentation tatoo with a few burn-ins as well." Despite saying so, Lilian is actually in the midst of shrugging off her director's coat, folding it up with the harness and her type-13. "Follow Sonetto's lead." Lilian looks at Dino, and tilts up her chin. "Don't hold back on them just because they're weak. Crush any that fight, capture any that surrender." Why the fuck is she cracking her knuckles? "Five hundred credit bonus for each one you bring to me alive."
Angela	The Stray Dogs LOOK like a run of the mill street gang that maybe engages in bodybuilding, but they are actually as tough as they look. And despite what the lookout said, they aren't running yet. They're loyal enough to one another they don't just immediately panic at the first sign of things going wrong. Kale can arrive first and demand they throw down their weapons. A Stray Dog with a shaved head and a nosering holding a sledgehammer says, "Alright, alright! How about I meet you halfway here... And throw it up!" He flings the sledgehammer at Kale right as he's diving for Dino, no doubt intentionally seeking to protect his boss. As a Thumb subsidiary, they are a very hierarchical group by nature. Going giant, when will it be neccessary? These guys are all normal sized individuals even if they are all visibly burly. Dino is smarter than the average Stray Dog. Dino IS distracted by Kale, though, giving Rita a chance to get in there and whisper to Pete. But when he turns back to look he notices that Pete's arm is looking ... better? He'd think that it was a regenerative augment of some sort and just as he's about to stomp on the limb again--he notices something dropping down on Pete's shirt. "..." Dino makes a guess based on where he saw the droplet of drool appear, throwing a hard driven thrust punch towards Rita's face. Riku gets approached by three Stray Dogs--they are totally fine with ganging up on guy! And they don't fight fair. They like to have one stay in front of Riku into his personal space, relying on their augmented toughness to occupy his attention while the other two punch and kick him in the side. What they lack in individual might, they make up for in coordination and a uniform willingness to fight dirty. ''Does anyone have eyes on Knifty?'' ''Where's Knifty? Is Mr. Finn hurt?'' "She hasn't checked in..." Weather Report answers for Finn and Pete. "One of their leaders left shortly after we--Rita! Watch out!" Pete shouts as he sees the incoming punch. Weather Report looks ... healthy! Periodically, lightning comes crashing down around her, which has been keeping the Stray Dogs from getting too close, but she doesn't really have the sort of control to actually intentionally target them, but finally she's able to change to 'Raincloud' and a small rain cloud appears over Dino's head and starts raining on him. Madeleine snipes a lookout with an arrow. As Madeleine fears, it doesn't immediately down the lookout but that doesn't mean it isn't a serious injury. Blood spurts out of the wound on his neck as he stumbles away. Of course, this does mean that he's having trouble running. He looks around while clutching the wound with his free hand but he can't pick Madeleine out so he ends up running into the store, "They've got fucking snipers!"
Angela	''Sonetto completely outskills a Stray Dog'' It becomes quickly apparent to Sonetto, if it wasn't already, that this guy's clash scores just aren't going to beat hers. He keeps throwing knockout punches and jabs at her but they are the punches of a brawler who practiced by doing on the streets, not a trained professional. The problem of course is what would happen if any of those powerful strikes hit her head on but so long as she takes advantage of Finn's positioning she shouldn't have any issues gradually whittling them down while avoiding getting ganged up on. Sarracenia can drop more healing on Pete but she's going to have a problem besides Stray Dogs with how she's busting in here. And how she's holding a bomb up and down but she doesn't have any issue riding a Bullet Bill near the story which detonates close enough to shatter most of the remaining windows. Several Stray Dog members dive out of the way. As do the Yurodiviye present. "I DON'T LIKE THEIR PLAN." Yuri shouts to Sonya as she ducks behind the counter. Once the general chaos of a Bullet Bill bursting onto the scene fades some and people start getting up, Yuri sees ANOTHER explosive and immediately swings out a spray of ice from Frost Splinter that snuffs out the flame, disarming the Bob-Omb! "What is wrong with you?!" Yuri shouts. "You're breaking our shit!" Weather Report mumbles an affirmation to Sarracenia as Sonya lets out a disgruntled sigh as he surveys the destruction. Fortunately, the Bullet Bill exploded outside so most of the goods are fine except, of course, for any that were near the windows. He swings himself over the counter. "Hello, you said you were a princess?" Sonya, leader of the Yurodiviye asks. "But you are also with Trídéag? That's fascinating." He smiles at her. "I don't suppose I could politely ask you to not completely ruin our distribution center? A lot of people need these things, perhaps not a princess such as yourself, but those who struggle to make ends meet." His hand is on his sword. Her association with Trídéag is why she's getting this conversation. "The Father runs our operations in District 12, but I wanted to see what it was like on the ground level here. So I came by to help our new recruit... so I could see how the District has changed over the past year." ''Yes sir. Please remain secure and uninvolved...'' "We would be happy to, provided there's no further destruction to our property." Sonya says to Sonetto. "I appreciate your professionalism." Odette is also going to get one (1) Stray Dog going after her mostly because most of the others don't seem to see her as a threat. But he does just try to rip the gun out of her hands.
Angela	''I'm just dying to know how you see that coming about.'' "Past experiences. Anything more than that is above my grade." The Stray Dogs are hesitant to assault Lilian. She's got a particular reputation. But her appearance is enough to get him to whistle, "Fall back!" He shouts. The Stray Dogs not occupied start falling back, the ones pinned down fight harder since now they know they're not going to be getting much backup. Dino turns towards Lilian as Finn and Pete flick off their safeties. The ones on the outskirts are all taking different routes--probably planned well in advance. Those Trídéag fixers who haven't busted into the store yet can possibly find a way to corral them. There's bonuses if you do, but it seems like it might be difficult to trail them to a specific location like this... Two Stray Dogs close in on Lilian, each one going for a grab--clearly intent on pinning Lilian down to give Dino room to escape. He scowls, taking a swing from Finn (Pete is still healing) that burns his right arm. "Sonetto!" Finn shouts. "The one called Dino is the leader. If any of them know anything, it'd be him!"
Riku Asakura	Coordinated attacks get sparks on the Ultraman. He grows larger in response to the three-on-one attack. Trying to use his own might to counter their might. He flies back from one set of attacks right in front of the storefront. Rolling back to his feet, he hears orders. 'Asakura, show the employees out...' "Sorry, I don't know your names, but if you would come this way, please, so that we can get you to safety," he says to those in the store. To the three Stray Dogs, however, he reaches a hand out to each of the ones trying to hit or kick him from the side, attempting to stop their attacks, while aiming to bring them in like a sandwich on the third. Energy coats his fists as he starts punching each one in sequence, aiming to try and lay them out as quickly as possible, but also keeping an eye out for the store's employees.
Kale Hearthward	> "Alright, alright! How about I meet you halfway here... And throw it up!" "That's not- That's not meeting me halfway!" Kale is not the quickest on the uptake. "Ack, sledgehammer!" He swings his drill sword at practically the last minute. There's an art to drill sword parries - you want to move the spinning blade in the direction of the motion, to maximize the time that the edges of the drill can chip away at your opponent's weapon's surface and momentum, wearing both down. As it is, the sledgehammer reaches the drill's locus too quickly - stopping the sledgehammer, but stopping the spinning blade too in the process. The sword's looking bent out of shape, literally. "Fine, then-" he quickly draws his other sword. "Breath Weapon Gobo shall be your undoing!" He brings the blade up to his beak, and breathes out - the sword splits along its length, revealing a mirrored surface in its core. The mirror shines brightly, whether or not sunlight reaches this far into the City. "And you aren't going anywhere! This stray dog... is getting penned!" He dives down, and flies a loose circle around the nosering sledgehammer guy, mirror blade shining as he goes by... and leaving a shining trail of blades in its wake, creating a sharp floating barrier. It's technically passable, if you don't mind either getting cut to pieces or carefully and painstakingly pushing each blade aside. More problematic is that as Kale circles, there's an incredibly localized weather anomaly forming - a system of inward pressure centered on a point (sledgehammer guy) that makes it hard to move around. It also results in that annoying feeling of having to pop your ears, which isn't necessarily a major concern but, you know, it's there and its worth mentioning! > "I have a way with breaking those in." Kale chokes a bit. "Is that what you call 'broken in'?" > "Five hundred credit bonus for each one you bring to me alive." Okay, look. Kale has his Paladins salary, whatever Lilian is paying Trideag, and, at this point, his own house, residuals on that cooking show he licensed, and a number of other small investments. But five hundred credits is five hundred credits and the holidays are coming up. "Right! Going after stragglers," he says, after making sure sledgehammer guy isn't going anywhere.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is readying another shot when new orders come in: support Rita. She does fire off the arrow, aiming for a lookout's arm or shoulder this time - something less likely to cause the unlucky Dog to bleed out, but that will still produce a substantial blood trail even through pressure or wrappings. It's a surprise tool that will help us later! She considers dropping from the rooftop into an alleyway, to get a better angle into the store itself. There's enough close-quarters chaos in there to dissuade her from pushing closer, however, especially when so many of the Elites like having room to maneuver - Rita with her lashing tendrils, Sarracenia's hammer, Kale's sweeping twin swords. Instead, Madeleine stays up above and whispers a plan to Drogrung. The weapon transforms into a spear in Madeleine's hands, and she jabs it down and forward as if stabbing something in mid-air just over the edge of the rooftop. The living weapon's ghostly snake-jaws manifest and gape wide, releasing a gout of oily smoke that rolls like a fog-bank toward the store. The Dogs' physical augmentations might be sufficient to prevent the poisonous cloud from subduing them, but it won't make it hurt less by much unless they're specifically inured to direct chemical interference with the nervous system - nor will it clear the vision of watery, venom-stung eyes. By the time the vapor gets into the store it's spread out enough to be mild in its effect, but nearer to Drogrung the concentrated poison gas will be unbearable. Her gambit is this: drive the Dogs into the store, where the press of allied bodies will work against their conventional weaponry and in favor of the Elites' area attacks.
Odette Raskins	"She hasn't checked in..." "One of their leaders left shortly after we--" Cursing quietly under her breath, Odette can at least relax a little bit over Weather Report doing well enough and Pete not being dead. He's even looking better after Rita drips her myserious healing water onto him from her hidden spot! Pete gets cut off just before he says the important part, though, and Odette can't even follow up on that effectively when she sees Sarracenia's explosions around the outside of the store that force her duck for cover. <<"Who..? Oh! OH, that's our explosions. Um. Good! I-I think.">> She stammers out over the Trideag comms while trying not to look at the source of the explosions, keeping her gaze and weapon trained on the one Stray Dog coming her way. Clenching her gun with a white-knuckeld grip, she brings it in closer to her chest while frantically wracking her mind for her options here. "N-not a step closer! I don't have time to do surgery if I empty this clip in you!" She 'warns', eyes going wider the closer he gets. She hesitates just long enough to lower her aim away from his chest, but takes a cue out of Sonnetto's book and keeps her distance from the approaching Stray Dog. More importantly, she actually takes a shot at him! Several shots, even, aimed at his waist and legs. They're not terribly well aimed, but Odette has enough sense to not give the guy ready to take her gun from her a chance to use the bullets in the worst case scenario.
Sarracenia	'What is wrong with you?! You're breaking our shit!' Sarra blinks in surprise, then again as her Bob-omb is frozen. She huffs in annoyance and starts to say something back, then stops half way through the first word and mmphs in more annoyance. 'Hello, you said you were a princess? But you are also with Trídéag? That's fascinating. I don't suppose I could politely ask you to not completely ruin our distribution center? A lot of people need these things, perhaps not a princess such as yourself, but those who struggle to make ends meet.' The wind goes out of Sarracenia's sails. The forced smile. The hand on a sword. And after what had happened with the Mermaids they rescued and Black Silence, her eyes glisten with moisture at realizing she might once again be causing more harm than help. "I...I would not..." She takes in a deep breath that could be mistaken for a sniffle. "...I will compensate you for any damage caused today and help with repairs, of course. I...thought that..." She pauses as she realizes the rest of that thought would not reflect well on her. She mmphs and shakes her head. "Worry not. Trideag takes care of those who ask for our help and those who assist us." She slips her now frozen Bob-omb back into her purse and instead pulls out...a golden coin as large as a dinner plate. "Here, a gesture of my good will...with my apologies. You have my word. I will do my best not to damage anything else. Except our enemies, of course." With many of her power-ups and her typical fighting tactics apparently being too destructive in here, Sarra is a bit nervous now. Can she even fight with her hammer without damaging things? Even she isn't sure. But, there is one power-up that rarely results in damage. To objects, at least. Sarra pulls out an ice flower and squeezes it, and in a puff her Trideag colors are replaced with icy colors. "...I am not sure you will take my word on it..." she says to Sonya, "...but I am sure a look around will show that Trideag and the hard-working people of the District who have joined us have made quite a difference over the past year." she says, then (assuming he does not stop her) she goes to help subdue the now fleeing Dogs. Her hammer flows away, forming into Silver gloves over her arms. But, after Sonya's and Yuri's words she doesn't even use the Silver fletchettes she might otherwise use. Instead, ice bolts go bouncing about. They bounce off of the floor and walls, Sarra aiming their ricochets to hit Stray Dogs and freeze them in place. Even those ice bolts that miss burst into a cold mist instead of anything destructive to the building or the supplies. Those that make it close to her are quickly met with a one-handed Silver hammer to the chest, thrown with all the power and speed of a fastball. 'She hasn't checked in...' 'Sonetto, on point with Sundew.' One cannot be on point from inside the store. At least, not forever. Once the Stray Dogs inside the building are sufficiently handled, Sarra takes off at a sprint and leaps through one of the windows to give chase to those fleeing outside. She gracefully parkours her way up the side of a building to get some height, then rains ice and hammers down from above. She doesn't worry about Dino. There is a Lilian and a Rita there. He'll be lucky to not be in a hospital slurping meals through a straw if he survives. Instead, she keeps her eyes open for Knifty as she hops between buildings.
Timekeeper	"We would be happy to, provided there's no further destruction to our property." Sonetto flinches to the side when Sarra's Bullet Bill crashes into the building, assuming by unfamiliarity with Sarracenia that the big explosive danger must be an enemy action. She slides over the counter of the store as an instinctual motion, tugging Yuri and Sonya down behind it for cover-- though they were already in the middle of doing so-- to shield them and herself from the explosion of debris. Standing up again once the blast has settled, she doesn't bother with brushing the fine layer of dust all over her off. With a slightly embarrassed expression and pursed lips, "Sorry. That should not happen again. Thank you for your compliance." In combat with the Stray Dog, Sonetto has no reason to press herself to attack more than necessary. With her extra reach, the quick motion of utilizing the sword as a lever around her hands, and the threat posed by the triggers of the type-13, the Dog's fatigue is a much more pressing concern than her own. It's only a matter of time until an overreaching punch gives her the opportunity to bring Terra all'Amore across her body and sweep the blade across his bicep, in tandem with a squeeze of its trigger that causes a slice of flame to bite deep into his muscle and scorch the protective tattoo. "Five hundred credit bonus for each one you bring to me alive." "Understood, Director." Sonetto stands to one side, twisting from her guard to slam the wounded Dog in the back with the pommel of her sword and knock him to the ground. "However, I will not need the incentives of a bounty as I am already properly provisioned to the extent of my needs." Sonetto, as an investigator of the St. Pavlov Foundation, is trained in many subdual techniques to take living enemies captive. However, mid-fight, her best method involves her arcanum, which isn't available to her right now! With a complete lack of squeamishness, she steps over the fallen Dog to crush his uninjured hand with her heel until it crunches, and then quickly squats to zip-tie both behind his back. "The one called Dino is the leader. If any of them know anything, it'd be him!" "Understood!" With Lilian rearing up to fight Dino, Sonetto intercepts one of the Stray Dogs trying to hold her back. She brings Terra all'Amore up by her head, parallel with the ground, and then whips it around to discharge the triggered flat on impact with his chest and collarbone, right at the densest cluster of his tattoos. After a flare-up of the superheated sword burns a line crossways through the tattoo, the discharged heating element in the fuller glows down to a shade of orange that just happens to precisely match Sonetto's own hair. "Do you believe that we should divert our efforts to defeating the one they call Dino, or should we ensure the capture of the remaining members here, Director?"
Angela	Yuri sees Lilian and immediately ducks back down behind the counter. Well that got her off of Sarracenia's back at least. The heat--or more accurately, the cold--comes out of Sonya's voice and posture as Sarracenia offers to compensate for the damage and help repair the distribution center. "Oh, well, that is mighty reasonable of you, princess. Mistakes are inevitable, but how you learn from them is how we all get better, no?" He pats her on the shoulder, still smiling. "I have to tell my people all the time that sometimes the amount of force we'd like to use isn't the amount of force that's responsible to use. And that means that sometimes we're at a disadvantage to those who don't care about others, but if we're not careful we'll just be another fist rather than an open hand. We can't help you fight these people, but if you hurry you might find a unique opportunity." He does seem a little uncertain about her putting the bomb--even if it's disarmed--BACK in the bag but... ''Sarracenia uses WEALTH PIPS'' He's not above a giant slab of gold to help offset the losses though. "Thank you. That's all I ask--oh please don't cry, princess. We're just talking this out like adults." "Haha! Take that, Beastman!" Mr. Sledgehammer is pleased at the effectiveness of throwing his sledgehammer, but then has to run down as it plummets back down to earth to collect it again. It's a little silly, squinting as the bright shine of Gobo hits his peripheral vision. Weather Report marvels at Kale's weather control and watches what he's doing, maybe hoping she can use it to better control her own weather. Cautiously, Mr. Sledgehammer pokes his sledgehammer into the swirling mass of blades and after a horrible screeching noise, pulls his sledgehammer back to now find it's just a sledgestick. The entire head of the sledgehammer has been obliterated. "Aw, shit." Mr. Sledgehammer says. He drops the stick and sits down, wholly pinned down by the pressure. Riku swings two Stray Dogs into a third, resulting in the third collapsing to the ground. The other two clasp each other's hands and try to duo-clothesline Riku down to the floor. ''But if you would come this way, please, so we can get you to safety.'' Sonya is looking at Lilian. "Your service is truly impressive. They aren't likely to go after us, but ... being out of the way seems better. And to think..." He looks back to Riku but raises his voice so Lilian can hear it. "We even gave them some of that Enkephalin Crates we stole from L Corp. But I suppose it's hotter merchandise than we should hold onto for long..." And then he takes Yuri's hand and starts making his way out of the store, readily using Riku as cover for their 'escape'. "I'm looking forward to cleaning up with you later, princess." He gives one more grateful nod to Sonetto as they leave. They aren't going to go TOO far but they're willing to get out of the immediate range of violence.
Angela	Madeleine's second shot at the lookout just barely gets deflected by his cover but her poison gas cloud? Yeah that's going to cause problems. The Stray Dogs attempting to flee soon find themselves unable to see where they are going and start crashing into each other, tripping, and running into walls. Looks like their augmentations don't cover ocular protection. Juuust out of that range of that cloud, one Stray Dog is closing in on Odette, overcome by sadism in the moment as he senses prey in Odette. Of course, she has a gun! "Don't worry, you won't need surgery once I'm done." He says, throwing himself at Odette. It doesn't seem to slow him down. It isn't until he is nearly on top of her and she's blasted im in the legs a ton of times that his legs give out underneath him and he collapses onto the ground, just within grabbing range of Odette. He tries to, in fact, grab her leg and tug on it hard, now less sadistic and more now just generally pissed off. CRUNCH. Yeah that fallen Stray Dog is now screaming in pain and not going anywhere. Ziptying him makes it formally so. Sonetto can also readily occupy one of the Dogs trying to occupy Lilian while Finn is doing his best with the other. Actually, she's going to find this guy, more desperate than the one whom she was originally fighting, is significantly sloppier, his swings wider and wilder than her first opponent. "Guhh you bitch! Stand still! That fucking hurts!" As Sonetto burns through the tattoos, his strength flags considerably. He's still a big muscular guy but his lack of training means it's not doing him any good. She can take him down in short order.
Rita Ma	"--Rita! Watch out!" Unfortunately, Rita's situational awareness suffers in direct proportion to her proximity to blood. "Ueh--?!" comes from 'nowhere', right before a fist to her jaw punches her back into visibility in a shimmer of disoriented chromatophores. Fortunately, she's a tough girl. Fingers dig into Dino's outstretched punching arm and rake from elbow to wrist, halting Rita's backwards momentum and flaring her out. Her chromatophores settle down into a whibroblugreyellow jacket, that familiar face, and a definitely white skirt. "I'm very sorry!!" she blurts out to Yuri (likely not recognizing her) and Sonia, in the half-second before jerking herself back towards Dino by his own arm and kicking across the man's face with a noise like a small car accident. "I can help clean up later!" If Dino's still standing, she lands between him and Pete with hands open like claws and an advantageously tenuous relationship with the concept of visibility. If not, she engages the goons Madeleine's herding into the store in much the same fashion... And then there's the one bleeding heavily from his neck, now staggering inside. Oh, no. Rita gets distracted for another moment, scrunching her pinprick eyes shut after they dart over and swallowing to center herself. "Wha, haah, what do you mean she didn't check in? Ohh-- thank you, Ms. Sarracenia!" she shouts after the pursuing princess.
Riku Asakura	'Your service is truly impressive. They aren't likely to go after us, but ... being out of the way seems better. ' "I would rather nobody get hurt that can be avoided. In a combat, accidents can happen. I'd hate for anyone to get hurt that wasn't involved!" Ultraman Geed says to Sonya. This is before he's slammed into the ground by the double-decker clothesline. He flips back to his feet and dives into one of the Stray Dogs that just got off the clothesline. He runs over him, aiming to do the same by giving him the Geed clothesline in return, before grabbing the second. He turns, trying to spin him in a throw and aim him towards the first on the ground (hopefully) after the clothesline. Then he focuses energy on his arms, making a plus sign with his arms, and fires a beam of energy at the two of them, aiming to cause a local explosion to try and catch the two Stray Dogs out in.
Kale Hearthward	If there's one thing Kale likes more than combat bonuses, it's the impressive library of home console-like-quality games that the PlayStation Portable boasts. Buy yours today! ... If there's two things he likes more than combat bonuses, it's being admired. "Yeah?" he says, hovering near Weather Control. "You want to see some more tricks? Give me a few to set up, I can juggle with both hands tied behind my back." "... Er, after, you know, the fighting is over." That's right, he's supposed to be on cleanup duty. He jets off again.
Lilian Rook	'She hasn't checked in...' Lilian finishes folding up and setting aside her extraneous gear at that moment, set aside on a barely-convenient bench. She snaps her fingers, calling out with her more usual tone, "Hearthward. Can you track her? If it's too difficult, I'll get Cadrasteia on it. She's a hunter and all." One could consider this encouragement. 'I don't suppose I could politely ask you to not completely ruin our distribution center? A lot of people need these things, perhaps not a princess such as yourself, but those who struggle to make ends meet.' "Sundew's paycheque will cover it." she says, matter-of-fact. Even if the two of them are interacting under the framework of employer and Trídéag employee right now, it's still within her authority to technically, in some way, make Sarracenia pay for it. That the Princess agrees is strange, but she doesn't intend to examine it right now. 'However, I will not need the incentives of a bounty as I am already properly provisioned to the extent of my needs.' "This is a mercenary outfit, Sonetto. If you don't want it, donate it back into the community." Lilian says. "And I'd really like to interrogate a few of them." She says it all so very ordinarily and professionally whilst . . . unbuttoning the dress shirt under her coat? Untying the bow and throwing the top aside, Lilian is left with just her gym crop and necklace above he waist. Surely this has something to do with allowing the Stray Dogs to see her own tattoo, for some reason (the bra strap is surely incidental) but the logistics of why are so . . . 'We even gave them some of that Enkephalin Crates we stole from L Corp. But I suppose it's hotter merchandise than we should hold onto for long...' Hey what is she nodding at? 'Do you believe that we should divert our efforts to defeating the one they call Dino, or should we ensure the capture of the remaining members here, Director?' "Don't worry about it Sonetto. I'll handle him." Lilian says. The barest veneer of professionalism melts away shortly after. "He's the one who made Pete's life difficult. I'm obliged to establish something very important" 'Past experiences. Anything more than that is above my grade.' "Ah. What a shame." Lilian says, impulsively purring the words and punctuating them with an accidentally breathy giggle. "So you're not a genius after all." The breath she draws is sharp and high-pitched. Both her hands snap closed into fists, with an audible double-thud. "Just incorrigibly stupid." It's the Stray Dog that Finn leaps to occupy. Lilian rocks her stance backwards and slides from his field of view on footwork, crossing behind Finn to break line of sight and weave around to his right side. She drops just as he throws his fist and from eye level with his ribs, pumps eight? guncrack flicker jabs into his side from the armpit down, and then drives a hard left hook directly into the back of his extended shoulder; even as her right arm comes back off the final jab, she twists her wrist inwards and throws a brutal short upper behind arm and into his chin. She turns away and lunges towards Sonetto's designated goon before it counts as a full heartbeat.
Odette Raskins	"Wha..? N-no, I meant for you!" Odette shrieks as she fires her shots and keeps falling back as best she can, penned in somewhat by the Stray Dogs running all over the place. Although they're fleeing, the EMT still has to exercise some caution in not getting caught up in their impromptu stampede, and that means the one closing in on her pulls her legs out from under her. Dropping on her back with a painful smack on the hard ground, she finds herself briefly winded and just barely has it together enough to sort out her options here while trying to scramble away on her elbows. Gun? No, she already emptied her clip right into the guy's legs, and he's still on her. Sword? No, there's not nearly enough time to get her weapon out, and her hands are still full between the gun and the vial of- Oh. Right. The vial. Although she had hurled the majority of the itching powder at some of the Stray Dogs in the store earlier, she had kept the vial on hand for just this occasion! Still moderately terrified, she kicks at the Stray Dog's face with her non-grabbed leg, clumsily pulling and shoving her heavy work boot at his face to keep his attention on her legs and off her hands. "Get... Off! Get off!" She shouts a few more times in that desperate scramble, jerking her grabbed leg away once more before lurching forward with the vial of itching powder in hand to break it directly on the Stray Dog's face. In her panicked state, though, Odette has all but given up on just backing away, and instead resorts to just pistol-whipping the guy across the face repeatedly.
Lilian Rook	Lilian pops her momentum off the ground with her toe on the closing step, leaping up short and driving her knee into the second man's left side as Sonetto cuts through his tattoo. Backing off her plan to try and ground-tackle him at feeling just how sturdy he is, she kicks off him?, feints left, and then fades to his back instead, translating the twisting footwork into a crescent kick aimed at the back of his head, well above her waist, throwing in a left elbow strike into his spine with the same momentum she uses to shove her foot back off his skull and back down to the pavement. It's not anything that someone like Chu Yao would call 'masterful', but it's clear that she hasn't skipped a day of working on those fundamentals since she started. The fact that the standard Trídéag uniform incorporates knuckle reinforcements and steel shoe inserts is doubly apparent in the marks she leaves where Lilian makes an effort to shape the striking surface to where she's hitting; given her physical strength, enough to split skin and spill blood. 'Fall back!' "Really? You've played that trick so many times even a dog would expect it by now. Chaill tú sé" Lilian vanishes from the doubles battle (decidedly trainer-like) and appears directly in Dino's way, leaving no afterimages between and only the faint scent of ozone and bloody iron in between. It's extraordinarily suboptimal not to have her sword on her in that moment, not to mention how excessively close she is. She can't particularly do anything his augmentation tattoos like this. "We'll call it quits when you bark." she says, and reveals that's perhaps not the point. The first thing she does is rush him from the front, even; a feint high-low mixup from the left straight to the kidney followed by her right hand disappearing from his peripheral vision and latching onto his wrist instead, serving as a sturdy anchor point to lunge forward and throw a knee strike between his legs on purpose.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine smiles, half out of pride and half sadism, as she watches the Stray Dog goons outside the store grow increasingly panicked and discombobulated in the smoke cloud. Some of them, however, make it out of the smoke and begin to break down the street, splitting up into their individual pre-planned escape routes. That won't do at all! 'Run down fleeing prey' is, however, more than just Madeleine's job - it's her essence. She is the embodiment of the hunt and, in her estimation, its ultimate practitioner. She leaps from one rooftop to the next, then drops down on a pair of fleeing Dogs. The first one is down before the second finishes turning his head to glance over shoulder, and most of what he sees when he does is her spiked-gloved fist. Then the order comes in to locate Knifty's trail, and Maddie silently-begrudgingly calls off her immediate pursuit of the fleeing goons. They can be dealt with later, and the security of a Trídéag fellow comes first. Knifty isn't really the rooftops sort, so Madeleine prowls the alleyways around the store, seeking for any marks of the other fixer's passage. When she does run into another Stray Dog or two she'll take them down, but priority one is getting on track to find Knifty.
Timekeeper	"If you don't want it, donate it back into the community." Of course, Sonetto was planning to do this already. The Foundation has bonuses for extra voluntary missions all the time, and Sonetto believes that the work is its own reward. She'd just like it to be known that, while zip-tying the burned Stray Dog, she isn't motivated by money at all, and instead would like something much more perverse (praise). "Don't worry about it Sonetto. I'll handle him." Sonetto is soooo good at immediately following orders without questioning their motivation. As self-driven as she can be when she's the highest authority around, Lilian's command to focus on a different target is accepted on its face, nodding and turning away and not thinking about why Lilian was undressing until later. "Okay. I will ensure the rest are dealt with by the time that you are finished with their criminal leader." "Get... Off! Get off!" While blinded by the itching powder, neither Odette or the Stray Dog attacking her can see Sonetto drawing her glass wand from where it nearly invisibly blends into her skirt. With the type-13 recharging, and very few Syndicate members left, she has no reason not to use her preferred tool to swoop in to the rescue for the medic of their squad. One arm folded behind her back in a fencing posture, she holds out the pen and straightens up her shoulders, scrawling through the air in flowing cursive light. "Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle." The curling lines of text condense and twirl into ropes of glowing light, whipping around to snap the Dog's arms and legs together and tighten like iron bands. Once he's down, Sonetto hurries over to Odette, pen still at the ready. "Are you alright? Do you need any healing?"
Sarracenia	'Sonya's voice and posture relax' Sarra seems hardly reassured by the words at first. The shoulder pat and the continued smile temper her frown into a more neutral uncertainty. People don't usually touch her, much less in a friendly way. "...yes...it can be quite annoying...having to hold back against those who are not." She sniffles again, trying really hard not to let any tears escape her eyes. "I try to be an open hand, but...I am accused of being a fist all too often." 'Thank you. That's all I ask--oh please don't cry, princess. We're just talking this out like adults.' Sarra stiffens then quickly drags a glove across her face. "W-who is crying?" she says, but having it pointed out just makes it a little harder to hold back. 'I'm looking forward to cleaning up with you later, princess.' Sarra looks surprised, but finally smiles a bit. "And I you!" She does not use his name because...she is uncertain she remembers it. 'Wha, haah, what do you mean she didn't check in? Ohh-- thank you, Ms. Sarracenia!' Hearing Rita's thanks makes Sarra beam for a few moments. "We will find her!" she calls back to Rita before she takes off to help round up fleeing Dogs. After a bewildered and perhaps slightly too long glance at the apparently undressing Lilian?! Oh, there are gym clothes underneath! Sarra was worried for a moment that Lilian might have lost her mind!
Angela	"Rita!" Pete gasps out, but at least his arm is feeling better. He gets up to his feet, gritting his teeth in anger. He swings his burning blade into Dino who grunts and kicks Pete back. Rita rips open Dino's right arm. "The fuck...?!" He shouts. Pete has to stop a second strike from lashing out at him as Rita moves in protectively but his glare doesn't turn off from Dino at all. Rita slams her foot into Dino's face, stumbling him back, disorienting him for a critical moment. "Damn it.. I told Gyeong-mi..." Meanwhile Riku is able to take down the last two remaining Stray Dogs on him with a sudden counterattack that they weren't expecting. They tumble down in short order. That's 1500 credits for him today! Not bad! ''Kale makes Weather Report think he's cool.'' Her head turns into a sun with thermometer next to it that's bright red and completely filled up. Dino's hair promptly catches fire. "Ah! Sorry!" She says instinctively before remembering who this guy is. "...I mean... NOT Sorry!! Jerk!!" She looks to Kale and bobs her head rapidly at him. "Y..yeah! Could you? I'd love to see it!" But she's not going to stop Kale from rushing off to round up the rest of the Dogs with Sarracenia, which shouldn't be too tough with all that poison gas they've been running through. The hardest part might be avoiding breathing it in themselves! Sonya is all too willing to tell Sarracenia his name later--it's no secret. He's a revolutionary leader, people knowing his name is part of the deal but he does hesitantly say, "Well, princess... I'm inclined to agree that you act as a fist often. But that's something you can temper." He taps at his head. "By relying on this first. And then--" He taps where his heart presumably is. "Ah, but I should get out of the combat zone. We can talk more later." He bustles off with Yuri. With everybody else either downed, fled, or captured--Dino is on his own with his backup (soon it'll just be Dino). He glowers at Lilian--it's all he's got left, his assault slowing as he rapidly smacks his own head to put out the fire that Weather Report unleashed upon him. "That guy's not Association material." He says, growling like--well like a dog. "Keep collecting strays. You gonna protect everyone?" The Stray Dogs have bit off more than they could chew, obviously, but their plans were generally centered around avoiding people like Lilian and Rita in the first place so that this wouldn't happen. One. Two. Lilian takes down Dino's backup and then... A kidney strike and a knee to the crotch sends Dino tumbling to the ground, gritting his teeth in agony. He's going to need a minute before he can say much else. "Looks like you're EXTINCT, Dino!" Pete shouts at him. He has been saving that one for years. Odette flings itching power in a guy's face and he does, predictably, let go. The kicks don't seem to hurt him much but the ithcing power causes him to scream and his own face bloody... And then Sonetto helpfully wraps him up like a christmas present. Unfortunately, this means that he can no longer scratch his face and he is rolling around across the floor trying to get at it to get some relief...
Angela	And finally... Knifty is trying to hide her trail. She's apparently gotten pretty stealthy over the course of her training with Nelly, but she's not so stealthy that Madeleine can't follow her--besides, she's trailing someone way less subtle and once Madeleine realizes Knifty is also trailing someone, it's an easy matter to follow the big trail and not worry too much about the tiny one Knifty is leading. As she's following the trail... Knifty's voice comes up on the comms. "Eheheh....sorry for being quiet, didn't want the doggy to hear... He's been such a BAD BOY... Hurting good boys like Pete and Finn..." "So I'm gonna punish them... and clean up their mess all nicely for you, mhm mhm... And you're going to say ''good job Knifty''..ehehehe...! Yayy Good job, Knifty...yesss... Come on doggy, just a little closer... I want to put some holes in you..." The connection cuts shortly after as she completely forgets about telling the others where she's going. But fortunately, Madeleine is still on the case as she finds that the trail leads to a still active bowling alley called The Dog Bowl, a sign showing bowling pins shaped like dog bones flickering dimly in the City skyline.
Riku Asakura	Three Stray Dogs go down, which means Riku gets a nice bonus on top of his normal pay. That's a lot of noodles he can buy with his extra money, which means eating for the next month or so isn't going to be a problem! Hurray! It also means that the Strays nearby are gone, so he releases the power of Ultraman and returns to his human form. "Is everyone accounted for? Where is Nifty?" he asks, just now catching up that she had gone missing during the scuffle.
Odette Raskins	"Are you alright?" With the adrenaline still pumping through her, Odette's grip on her sidearm doesn't let up one bit as it comes down at the Stray Dog. Thankfully, she stops shortly after Sonetto binds him in place and realizes he's stopped trying to grab her, and then Odette's head whips around to face the nearby voice. Recognizing it as that of an ally's, her grip loosens, and she blinks through the pain just enough that she can actually recognize Sonetto standing there, checking on her, offering to heal her while satnding as tall as she does... It's such a picturesque scene, at least in Odette's mind. In reality, she's still snotty and having a bit of trouble breathing, her face is burning terribly from using that itching powder way too close than she should have, the glass cuts on her hand, the broken glass and exploded surroundings, the guy thrashing about trying to scratch his face raw... "Urhm.. I-I'm okay. Thank you, Miss Sonetto." She barely gets out with a slow nod, sniffling heavily and rubbing her face with her back of her gun-holding hand. Odette does seem physically okay enough, at least, although the itching doesn't really seem to be subsiding. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Um. Do you... Will be okay?" She asks with a slight hitch in her breathing, partially from the itching powder, and partially from being awestruck at her saviour of the day. Once she does finally get her head back on track, however, Odette does what she does best: Making sure nobody here is going to die from bloodloss. Treating the Trideag members is a given (bonus if it means working with Sonetto), but she also remembers Lilian's bonus and most certainly isn't going to let the guy trying to scratch his face off bleed out from all those gunshot wounds. "Oh. Miss Sonetto? Do you think I could get credit for this guy?"
Lilian Rook	'That guy's not Association material.' "Unlike you, he'll have the time to improve." 'Keep collecting strays. You gonna protect everyone?' "You have no idea." 'Looks like you're EXTINCT, Dino!' "Grow up." Lilian turning to look at Pete in that moment isn't the friendliest of sighs. Fists clenched, breathing hard, knuckles bloodied, bare skin red-speckled, she isn't able to soften her stare all at once. Glancing back at Dino, Lilian even rocks back to get distance and kicks him in the stomach to be sure. "I'm not going to move this many people for you ever single time, Pete. Very soon, we're going to be working with far too many Offices for me to look after everyone individually." she says, strangely conversationally, despite placing the heel of her boot on a guy's hand. "You deserve credit for your plan, but you're still standing because we have the resources to guarantee it, and willingness to put them behind it. You can sling-- Hey didn't I say we're done when you bark?-- those one-liners when you can handle this level of problem with your own strength." Wiping her brow (and finding she isn't sweating; it's November; Lilian turns from Dino and stalks back to her folded clothes, gesturing at Sonetto to restrain him with an over-the-shoulder hand motion. "If the Thumb isn't run by a pack of idiots, they'll gradually figure out how Trídéag does business, and that coming after our people with intent is the line we don't let anyone cross, and they'll just as easily figure out that we have limited resources and a threshold at which Syndicate interference is an ordinary part of doing business. You've improved, certainly, but you, Finn, and all the others; you're going to have to be able to stand on your own sooner than you'd like." Lilian touches her earpiece as she buttons her shirt back up, sighing, "Speaking of which . . ." 'Come on doggy, just a little closer... I want to put some holes in you...' Lilian grimaces. "Sonetto. With me. Asakura, with Rita. Hearthward, can you fly with Raskins? She's the smallest." These are very clearly 'rapid relocation' plans. "I'll have a quick chat with the Yurodiviye people about holding our detainees. A team of three is staying here to supervise."
Timekeeper	"Um. Do you... Will be okay?" Sonetto patiently absorbs Odette's babbling while kneeling down to ensure that the captured Stray Dogs are all securely disabled and alive, before getting back up to look back over her shoulder at Odette's teary blotchy stare. "I am fine. You should avoid touching or scratching at your face while affected by a chemical irritant in order to avoid further spreading the chemical into your wounds or mucous layers." Moving closer, Sonetto puts her hand on the side of Odette's face to steady it, holding the glass pen up like she's about to draw on her like a tablet. The core of the pen glows, flowing like ink into words that sink onto Odette's damaged face and spread out like raindrops. "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." Like the cooling of a solitary raincloud passing over the sun, Odette's itching vanishes to clear up her eyes. She looks down at the Stray Dog, who is notably tied up by glowing arcane strands of light made out of compressed poetic text, then up at Odette, who is trying to claim that she did it. "Okay."
Rita Ma	Seeing Dino accosted by Lilian- it'd crossed Rita's red-foggy mind that (she might want to leave 'teaching him a lesson' to me, while I'm drooly like this), but no- she lets herself relax for a second. Their wary attentions interlace nicely, she's intuitively learned. Lilian can do a lot on little notice. Rita can do a little on even littler notice. Any time they're within arm's reach of each other, they're probably both quite safe. She absentmindedly flicks off the weird red fluid that somehow got all over her fingertips- it's gross when it gets cold. Her eyes scan the scene for anyone in imminent peril, but finds sort of the opposite. "Great job, Ms. Weather Report! Thank you for protecting everyone, Mr. Finn!" Nothing more urgent, then, than dusting off Pete's shoulder reassuringly (with the dry hand!! she's smart!) and giving him a sympathetic smile. "... Ms. Rook doesn't want you to come down with a scary case of bravado, I think," she says. "But you've known 'Dino' for a while, right? So... I get it a little." There's been a couple of times she was almost of a mind to be that kind of brat too. Knifty's voice perks her back up. Who's gone after her? Sarracenia, Madeleine... does she trust them? No, that's not really the point. Thinking of Knifty being in danger, calling out for Rita, and not being there to save her is... "Asakura, with Rita." "Mmm." Gratefully businesslike. A quick query over the radio, and then she takes Riku's hand, and... "Ready, Mr. Asakura? And I really will be back, Ms. and Mr. Grocer!" Unless he's very brisk in keeping up with her footwork he might just end up trailing behind her by the arm, like a streamer or a wind-sock. It's all sort of a blur of crunching rooftops, howling wind, and multiple streets streaking by per leap until she can plunge through a window of the Dog Bowl, hot on Maddie's heels-or-indication.
Sarracenia	'Well, princess... I'm inclined to agree that you act as a fist often. But that's something you can temper." He taps at his head. "By relying on this first. And then--" He taps where his heart presumably is. "Ah, but I should get out of the combat zone. We can talk more later.' Sonya just...talks to Sarra. Sarra finds herself wondering...why is it the people of the City, the worst place she's ever visited, are the most willing to talk to her like she's a person? She smiles softly and nods at the suggestion that they talk more later. "It would truly be my pleasure." she says as he and Yuri leave. Having already slipped out to round up stragglers, Sarra is quick to change direction when Madeleine relays Knifty's position. Hearing Knifty's plan on the radio, Sarra tunes in to the comms herself. "Knifty!" she exclaims urgently. "You are already doing a good job! But, we need them alive! Lilian said so! She is even offering a reward for those captured alive! Just tell us where you are and wait for us!" That Madeleine has already found Knifty is unimportant. Getting Knifty to tell them is a good sign that Knifty isn't going on with her plan. Sarra coughs from poison gas she recklessly ran through chasing Stray Dogs as she closes in on Knifty's position. She didn't even realize poison gas had been deployed. When breathing becomes a bit difficult, Sarra finally realizes what happened and pops a green mushroom.
Angela	''Grow up.'' Pete grimaces, face turning bright red. "Sorry ma'am. Let my emotions run wild." Dino, gratefully, is too incapacitated to smirk at Pete over this so he dodges a bullet there. Pete gives Rita a nod. "Y..yeah... You get it. But she's right. I mean ... acting like this, it's something a ''Rat'' would do, right? And ... I take some pride in the other Rats...we've built something up, you know? But you know what I mean, I'm Trídéag now. I should act like it, even when there's a guy getting some real satisfying just deserts." Knowing that eventually they'll be expected to know their own is frightening for both him and Finn, but it's Finn who speaks up. "It's a frightening idea... Even improving, it feels like we've still got a long way to go before we can stand on our own two feet..." He exhales. "...Going up against the Thumb directly ... we're not beating the kind of numbers they can deploy. Not anytime soon." He beams happily at Rita's assurance. "I hope one day I can protect everyone without needing to call for help... But I'm feeling more motivated than ever." In some worlds he'd be the shounen protagonist, believe it! But here he's got a hard road ahead of him. Weather Report says, "ahah... I'm just glad nobody got seriously hurt...I'll help stand guard, I need to get some shopping done here anyway and um... maybe help clean up... I'm SO EXCITED we get to work together, Rita!!" She goes full sun (minus temperature gauge) as she throws both of her arms into the air. Sarracenia doesn't get a response but don't worry! Knifty wants to keep them alive too so they can be properly punished! Though the question as to whether she is strong enough to spout one liners is yet to be seen. ... Sonya. Sonya remembers a woman. He remembers a woman who couldn't take it anymore and was moved to act carelessly because the alternative was to starve. So she killed their tormentor and then... ...But the truth is, Sonya never minded people like that. And while this princess is a far cry from his dear friend, a woman he is still hopelessly in love with, he hopes to spare her some inevitable pain, sure, but he understands that fury. The careless fire when you feel like you've got nothing else you can do. The urge to do something, even if it's a mistake, over doing nothing. It's certainly careless to travel via missiles, more than he can imagine, but old sins demand that he temper his harshness, that he gives her opportunity, that he hopes. Faith guides Sonya. And he can't set it aside easily. Sonya will supervise the detainees. He does note that, technically, they have an 'agreement' with the Thumb but he doesn't want to anger Trídéag so, like, yeah he's not just going to cut them loose. The agreement doesn't extend to cleaning up the messes of their subordinate gangs, apparently. Yuri is quiet and trying to avoid drawing Lilian's attention to her but between her and Sonya they'll suffice as acceptable guards, particularly with local Trídéag fixers to help out. NEXT UP: A lot of schemes nobody talked to each other about crash into each other simultaneously.