2010-04-03 - If We Can Make It There...

April 3rd, NCA 120

Weather in the New York area is cloudy and gray due to a passing storm system from the southern Atlantic. Temperatures are clammy but above freezing as spring struggles to sprout from beneath the burden of atmospheric dust and war.

Someone is coming.

A cluster of units show up on radar, coming from the southeast - passing over Long Island, with one unit in the lead by almost a dozen kilometers and with the remainder following it in an ad hoc formation. All identify as Divine Crusader units to electronic intelligence assessment, and as such alerts start trickling out for an attack somewhere in Southern New York State.

From the waterfront, the view is a lot clearer. Amidst a rain of thunder and rolling storm clouds - heavy, black, and pendulous - a blue machine, trailing a slightly luminous red cape behind it, starts moving down and decelerating while approaching the city. It flies over several cargo ships, a docking facility and tank farm, and steers - slowing even further, more carefully - down an avenue that is a little too narrow, quite, for the broad build of the Vysaga. It turns around, landing with a bone-shattering slam in front of the Gurren Luncheon, its battered head tilting downwards, eyes glowing a malevolent... blue?

There is a pregnant pause of about two seconds.

Then, the Vysaga's side erupts into a bright trio of explosions, submunitions from a long range missile striking home. The machine staggers:

'Damn!' Lamia thinks in the cockpit, even as she reaches for the hatch release cover, grabbing at the sheaf of maintanence reports that she had written what information she could compose in between evasive maneuvers en route here. 'They aren't letting up --'

She picks up the mike for the PA system, and Vysaga's head booms with Lamia's voice amplified tremendously. "GURREN BRIGADE!" it booms downwards. "THIS IS LAMIA LOVELESS." Can it be? She didn't trip over her own words yet. "I HAVE VITAL INFORMATION THAT I NEED Y-"

Lamia had moved to the front of the cockpit, holding the sheaf of papers, perhaps hoping that Leeron would be in residence -- that man being perhaps the person who she would have to do the least work to persuade to trust her.

The front of the Vysaga is lit up with a magenta-red light, part of the opened hatch mechanism melting and fusing. Lamia seems unhurt, but the sheaf of papers in her hand immediately catches fire. She looks at this - if her expression can even be made out - with horror.

A second blast strikes the immobile Vysaga's head cleanly from the side, the force of it blasting the head into a cocked position, its spikes drooping from metal overheating. A third one blasts into the neck, the head component tilting backwards -- and then toppling loose, falling down to crush a parked Harota Prius across the street.

"No--!" Lamia says, looking with horror, frustration, and fear back the way she came.

There had been little choice - the moment that W-17 had chosen to betray them, her fate had been sealed. There had been far too much treachery in the past, people abandoning the Shadow Mirrors in order to help the terrorist Zero. That a mere doll would believe that it could escape from them, defecting for whatever purpose existed deep within its damaged and malfunctioning mind, was intolerable. Lamia's glance back, and the concern placed within it, has good reason behind it. An arc of energy runs through the air, splitting open the sky and allowing her pursuers to ingress to the slowly rebuilding remains of New York. Lamia had lead them all on a merry chase from her escape point in the Earth Cradle - and Vindel was determined to put an end to this now, before she had a chance to escape. The Zweizergain drops from the teleportation vortex, not quite striking the ground before its flight systems kick in. Both arms cross, the blue and black super robot looking down at its predecessor, one of the test beds for the technology that had been used to create the ultimate Shadow Mirror weapon. "W-17, surrender now. I do not know what insane idea has entered your mind, but we will not allow you to escape. I am certain Lemon can repair whatever major malfunction has caused you to do this..." Another ripple, and suddenly twenty Zweizergains appear, flashing out in a wide circle to cut off escape from the damaged Vysaga. "...but we will not allow you to flee. I admit, your skill and tenacity are impressive - a pity you insist on using that talent in a way that can only lead to your death."

At one flank of the rough formation of DC units is a green Randgrith, moving with incredible speed for something as big and bulky as it is.

Echidna has been coaxing the afterburners in pulses in an attempt to keep up with the rest of them. Somehow, she is doing it, though she is very low on booster power at this point. She is also low on missiles, having been firing every time she thinks she's locked onto the much faster unit. The long-range one may have been her fault.

If Echidna is still emotionally distraught, it isn't showing. Her expression is as flat as ever. Her only goal, right now, is to retrieve W17. She does not allow herself to think of anything else, and quashes her own mental thread every time she threatens to.

Zweizergain pulling ahead allows Echidna some time for the bulky, oversized machine to catch up. Its thrusters are smoking. She pushed it far, far too h ard.

Well it isn't a very lovely day outside and, so, it isn't very busy at the luncheon. It's a city people mostly walk and take public transport in so there is bound to not be many people paying a visit to the luncheon.

So Simon is taking it easy, cleaning up with his mop, taking orders, and generally doing a job well done. And then...

LOUD NOISES!

simon blinks twice, not really registering. Lamia Loveless, he thinks, it's like even now he can still hear her voice. But what a silly imagination, Lamia stutters a lot more than--

KABLAST!

The customers run like hell out of the Luncheon and Simon follows out, poking his head out the door and towards the fallen giant robot.

"B, boota... do you really think that might be Lamia?" Simon asks, stunned. "...I gues I better call... Lagann!"

The drill head pops out of the ground behind Simon and he clasps his drill key in his hand, the cockpit shield opens up and he clambers inside, Boota joining him because that ist he quickest path to Potentially Lamia's Bosom.

"We'll combine and get the machine to safer ground--!" He shouts, jogging in the Lagann towarsd the fallen Vysaga, leaping into the air, drill extending as it prepares a mighty combination sequence?!

Follow the DC units - within them - is a yellow and red amorphous blob, moving up and down as it follows through the air almost happily. "Well, that was enough toying around. This time I'm going to play seriously." She states - mostly to herself, as the Dominator gives off a rainbowish hue from behind - photon mats allowing it to stay in the air.

It's not like every mission is destroy this, destroy that, or any of that sort! There are some fun ones, like capture the robot-cyborg-pilot, but it's more important that the /suit/ gets back alive. "Well... gee. Only the suit? I guess he's kind of mad."

"Buuuut it is a nice suit compared to, like, whoever was piloting it, I'm sure." Cynthia so carelessly exclaims - the Dominator shooting up and back for effect before diving forwards, speeding along towards the operation site!

The sky lights up with fire, for just a moment.

The Soulgain comes crashing downward. The armored drop pod breaks off it; shreds of armor and metal explode into the air, shattering like so much egg shell, as the machine comes down. It lands in Manhattan Crater not so far away -- and a huge plume of debris and smoke explodes into the air in a column, as Axel Almer comes to the Earth once again. The dust cloud rolls out, along the streets and between buildings.

Then, the eyes of the Soulgain come to life -- burning a fierce red, and the cloud is cut apart in the center, a hole torn into the middle of it and sending it into a spin.

Soulgain leaps up -- and over several skyscrapers, as it comes down towards the Gurren Luncheon.

The Crimson Lightning isn't terribly certain how he got caught up in all this mess; it seems like one moment everything was fine, and the next he was being shoved onto a launch catapult with little explanation but some mumbling about a hijack. Personally, he doesn't much care if a prisoner banged out of the Earth Cradle, but...

Well, Lady Haman has her standing orders, and far be it from him to deny them. As such, a crimson and black Zaku III has linked up with the pursuing DC forces in only the last few minutes, riding atop a Dodai, an enormous bazooka propped up on its right shoulder.

When Vindel drops down to - Johnny Ridden can only assume - attempt to talk some sense into whoever it is has pulled this stunt, he guides his flight sled into a holding pattern a kilometer above the streets of New York, slowly circling the Gurren Luncheon, its bazooka pointed straight downwards towards the Vysaga.

Suriel is not with the DC forces.

Suriel, after his wild trip with the Orcs yesterday, split off from the DCers to do what a kid his age does best. Go around getting drunk, getting into trouble, and other assorting things after a football game. However, twenty four hours, a hangover, and now a very hungry stomach...

Suriel was in the Gurren Luncheon, getting a personal recommendation from someone, who shall be not named. He has a sandwich on a table, and a mouth full of Ramen as the fireworks start up. Suriel, always the magnet for trouble walked outside at the first sounds of gunfire, with his bowel of noodles. Then the Vysaga stands there, with some really kinda hot chick yelling stuff at the Gurren brigade. The bowel, however, drops as soon as he hear's the Colonel's voice, his mouth still containing most of the noodles in the bowel as he looked up.

"Mmfshmphit." a large slurp later. Slowly, Suriel slips towards his unit, which is located just a few blocks away.

WITHOUT PAYING HIS BILL!

The Shura know the taste of battle well. Even after his beating from Gym, Fernando holds no anger towards the Divine Crusaders (beyond the anger he holds to pretty much everything); the Valefar lands in the city, striding towards the field of battle.

Inside, Fernando clenches his fist, and Valefar does the same. The great Shura God had a black X-scar burned into its chest from the fight with Gym, one that still hadn't healed - but both Fernando and Valefar were hungry for battle. It was one of the few things the almost-sentient/super-sentient god and its dominator agreed upon; it was, ultimately, the reason they were here. Fernando understood that loss is only personal if it's made personal; he had no vendetta against Gym and the Divine Crusaders, just as he had no vendetta against the Earth Federation. Ultimately, he was in it for one thing and one thing only.

Testing his strength.

The blue alien machine leaps onto one of the buildings, crossing its arms to look down upon the situation like, well, a god from on high as Fernando attempts to discern which side is the weaker.

/Before//, //Earth Cradle/

Red alerts blare throughout the entirety of the Earth Cradle as Yazan Gable calmly strides into the bridge of the Girty Lue, docked within the massive ark fortress' shuttle bays. He looks up with a vague squint as red lights invade his sight, scratching the side of his face.

"What the hell is this?" he asks of fellow ex-Titan Dunkel Cooper, sitting at the communications chair of the Girty Lue's bridge.

"Looks like that one chick we brought in got out -- what's her name, the corpse?" Though Yazan's brows knit together, a vicious grin spreads across his lips with this revelation; soon enough, the scarred man is belting out a full-blown laugh, eyes clenched shut in sheer amusement.

"Gaahahahaha! What a bunch of jackasses! See what happens when ya don't put defective products in the trash where they belong?" Cooper grins savagely as he leans back, tapping a gloved finger against the computer terminal screen.

"So, we gonna go shoot her down now?"

Yazan looks considerate for a moment, before shrugging languidly. "Nah, I'm feelin' generous. They were stupid enough not to kill her, let's give her a nice little head start to let 'er think she's got half a chance. Prep the Xeku an' get me a dodai --

"Time for me to clean up that stupid woman's mess, eh?"

/Now//, //New York/

"Heh."

Light red particles burn at the edge of an impressively large beam rifle as the bulky form of the Xeku Zwei hovers high above the city limits of New York, its mono-eye gazing at the fallen form of the Vysaga so terribly far away. Its gun lowering, a pair of sub-arms lift up, ejecting two beam saber hilts into their waiting grasp.

Within the cumbersome machine's cockpit, Yazan Gable allows himself a twisted smile, leaning to the side as he taps his gloved finger against the cockpit and observes the Vysaga as a ravenous dog might observe a piece of raw steak.

"Looks like your grace period's over, puppet," he says aloud, as the twin beam sabers ignite in crackling edges of red.

"This time I'll make extra sure you stay dead. How's that sound?!"

And with that, the Xeku Zwei's dodai suddenly /divebombs/ downward, making a rapid charge towards the location of the Vysaga so far away, the look of an all-too-eager predator burning in Yazan's gaze as he slams down on his controls.

"Ha ha ha hahahahahahaha!!"

Marcus had heard of this place, this 'Gurren Luncheon'. It seems to have a good reputation and is well known across the Earth Sphere, specifically for it's bombastic management... now, he isn't one to put stock in word of mouth, especially from Earth Spherers and their somewhat twisted notions, but food is food, and it certainly /smells/ good. Just as he's about to dig in however, there comes a loud crash and a shout from outside. It doesn't take long for the clientel inside to realize that shit is about to hit the fan, and within seconds people are screaming and panicing and running around. One of which slams into his table on their way out and dumps all his wonderful, delicious food all over the floor. Marcus looks down disgrunted, mourning the loss of his food before it's time, then calmly stands up and steps out of the resturant. Parked around the side of the resturant is a four story tall mecha, painted black with a white skeletal motif. Without a word, the grumbling Mechwarrior grabs the zipline and accends into the 100 ton machine, then pulls the neural helm down over his bald head. "Alright, someone owes me a meal, and I intend to take it out of their god damn hide."

A SHORT TIME AGO The alert goes out in light of the swiftly approching DC presence. Aboard the Shirogane, /scrambling happens./ Kyosuke Nanbu, leader of the ATX team, hesitates, staring at the half-ruined Alteisen with an expression even more steely than normal. His gaze slowly sweeps across the hanger, and then settles. "Hey, Excellen..."

NOW The Weisritter, white and pure and magnificent even in the crappy weather, zips through the sky like the hyperactive robot that it is. It is perhaps even zippier and erratic than usual. Inside, Kyosuke struggles with the hair-trigger controls, already in a desperate battle to avoid overcorrecting constantly. He's already forgotten how this ever seemed like an even remotely passable idea. "Assault-2, Assault-3, be careful and don't stray too far." He pauses, and the Weisritter goes into a crazy half-dive, which it recovers from almost immediately. "I'd forgotten it was this...sensitive."

The man who has come to be known amongst his allies and enemies alike as 'Mister Bushido' is bored. Sitting on an A-LAWS Orbital Ring base, the masked ace is overseeing some retuning of his custom mobile suit; unfortunately, the unique high-performance machine requires regular, thorough maintenance to operate at the necessary levels, particularly keeping its two GN Tau drives at proper particle density. Of course, he is 'overseeing' the retuning in the sense that he is leaning against a catwalk railing, making very sure to not get in the A-LAWS technical team's way. Apparently /someone/ gave them standing orders to not let the blond man interfere with their work, or try to give them any ridiculous instructions, and he can certainly guess exactly who that person would be. "Hmph," mutters Bushido, looking up at the black and red form of his mobile suit. If only... "Captain, sir!!" comes a voice over the intercoms. "There seems to be something happening down the surface, near the ruins of New York! It's difficult to tell, though, there's some interference from the weather, and..." Mister Bushido isn't listening, though. He's already forcing his way into the cockpit of his machine, sealing it up as the seat reclines back, the panoramic screens lighting up. One of the techs tries to protest, but the masked man cuts them off. "Irrelevant. This is Black Eagle, Masurao! I'm mobilising!" He was really, really bored. The great spindly mobile suit pushes its way free of its restraits, and the catwalk, and marches up to the orbital ring base's bay doors, which open wide moments later. The GNX-U02X drops into the upper atmosphere, limbs held tight against the frame like a diver, refined GN particles spilling out of its paired drives, forming both cushion and propulsion as the custom close-combat mobile suit careens towards New York like a comet.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami receives orders to return to Earth.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami does so.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami is told to suit up.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami does so.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami is told that GN Evangelion Unit-00X will be deployed to New York as emergency reinforcements against a Divine Crusader attack of some sort; specifics are vague. She is told to get on the transport and board the Eva when it arrives.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami does so.

SOME TIME AGO

Rei Ayanami initiates synch sequence and the GN Eva comes to life, lurching out of a NERV facility -- there are NERV facilities everywhere, they're just not labeled.

"Rei -- get over there. And... /try/ not to destroy the city. They don't quite have the... capabilities Tokyo-03 does, when it comes to repair."

NOW

Rei Ayanami does so, stepping gingerly between skyscrapers as she proceeds toward Staten Island, each step from the GN Eva shaking the streets.

 Mister Bushido transmits, "This is Black Eagle, Masurao! I'm mobilising!"

 Rei Ayanami transmits, "Lance-3. En route."

MEANWHILE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LUNCHEON

"Yeah. I bet you 20 bucks you can't eat the whole thing!" Kittan smirks at the leader of the team.

"Tch. I'll EAT TWO OF THEM! Also, who the hell are you anyway?" Kamina says, picking up one side of the giant specialty sub.

"KITTAN! YOU STUPID SON OF A-"

"Tch. Whatever, just better be ready to pay up when I eat this whole damn sandwich like a boss." Kamina is about to take a bite when he hears a mighty crash from the parking lot. He stops, carrying the sandwhich over his head as he peeks out the window at the wreck. "Tch. They got the Prius! Did that guy tip us well?" He looks around the luncheon until his eyes fall on a heartbroken Leeron. It was his Prius. "Well...Uh...." He takes a bite of the sandwich, seeing Lagann start going for the wreck. "RIGHT! Lets show these guys what we do to people who break our cars!"

"We only had the one car---"

"NO TIME! Help me carry this sandwhich into the Gurren!" Kamina says, wolfing down an inch of delicious sour dough bread.

NOT LONG AFTER

The Gurren chases behind Simon, wobbling in it's walk. "MMAIT MMR MMME!!!" Kamina says with his mouth full of delicious, meaty sandwhich.

A pilot whose lost their marbles, in a high powered machine is never a good thing. Ken knows about Madness and the regulations on Frame Runners if they start going mad in the field. Which is to take them down as soon as with any means available. The Demos Incident burns in the young woman's mind. It took 60 Levs to bring down the insane pilot of Idolo and it had Viola leading the charge to boot.

She makes no illusions of how bad this could be, the Ardjet is moving at high speed towards the city track towards it she's not alone several Raptor Drones follow in her frames wake. She gives them orders, go for the stolen machine's take it down however is necessary.

Shes also no fool she knows that the EFA will not welcome the DC trying to clean up its own mess, so she expects the Earthers to behave as normal. This was going to be a very fubared day.

Maybe, Lamia thinks with bleak finality, all I have done is get those who have shown me kindness killed. She does not expect that Vindel Mauser will spare the immediate environs. She leans back in the seat, even with the hatch stuck and her cameras disabled.

Twenty of them, she thinks, eyes flicking over them. At least he is saying polite things. Past the Zweizergains, she can make out other things - ah, yes, the flubbery form of the Dominator. The Soulgain coming from above. Maybe, she thinks with a vague hint of hope, they will respond and destroy one or two of these units. It may do nothing but buy them time, but there are billions of people; an additional month of delay due to damage to the Zweizergain is millions of lives, in a sense.

A Zeon unit, she sees while tilting her head up slightly, not able to make out Ridden's paint job in the gloom of the sky. What is clearer is the reddish glow around the Xeku Zwei; she smiles faintly to herself. He must have loved that knife, she thinks, before something much closer and smaller flashes. A face?

Simon.

"SIMON!" she shouts, eyes going wide, raising her voice past the usual level of screaming. "SIMON, RUN, THEY WILL KILL YOU! DON'T -"

Too late, she thinks as something goes 'crunch' on the top of the Vysaga. The severed head component presents a good point for drilling. Dammit, Lamia thinks as her eyes close, which means she misses it when the fused metal of the hatch door in front of her quivers - and pops outwards for a moment, damaged shards cracking loose and falling to the street before closing shut with a resounding hiss-click, putting eight centimeters of composite metal between her and Yazan Gable. As the cockpit lights come back on with a peculiar blue-green cast, her eyes open again, hesitantly. The panoramic view is still on, but the sheer quantity of forces arrayed, she thinks --

Something jabs her in the back of the neck and between the shoulder blade, her body jumping and eyes rolling back in her head for an instant as she says, quite cogently, "Gah!!"

Coop Cooplowski has nothing against W17 or any of the others in her series. Or developing personalities. Or thinking for themselves instead of sitting there staring at him like emotionless little dolls. They want to think they're people, they can go right on ahead. No skin off his nose.

But this, he thinks as the ebon titan known as the Black Thirteen hurtles down toward Staten Island, is something else entirely. The Shadow Mirrors have conquered their way across the multiverse by holding to a single guiding principle, one that's kept them together. Vindel Mauser's leadership has something to do with it, certainly, but no man - no matter how strong of personality - could hold together recruits from dozens of worlds to a singular purpose on personality alone. There's a certain code all these self-made orphans live by. You don't leave people behind. You look out for each other. You don't let your ego get in the way of the mission. No matter what, you stick with the team.

It's something Jamie and Kiva forgot. It's why he had to destroy them.

"Shouldna done it, girl," Coop whispers, shaking his head. "Shouldna gone an' done it."

SOME TIME AGO

Being that his luck continues to flow just as well as always, and is probably saving itself up for a point in time where he actually needs it, Shiro Amada was /asleep/ when the alert came. He was scheduled for a night watch, and getting woken like that tends to mean getting rolled out of bed.

Which he did, quite literally. Shiro leaps up and runs out the door, grabbing something on the way, running to the hangar barefoot and going, "Crap, crap, crap, crap, /crap/!"

NOW

The Gundam Ez8 follows the GN-Evangelion. They're in the same squad, and he figures he should cover her. Moving down the streets is a little easier for him, and rather essential since this thing can't fly.

In the cockpit, Shiro Amada tries to get his pants on without breaking anything.

Archangel was on his way to the scene, by via Transport. He was flipping on the switches and getting gabriel ready for combat. "This may be crazy.." he says to himself, "..but you were right Leon.. freakin' lynx.." He muses before he hears the computer chime in.

"Systems online. Switching to Combat mode."

The white AC was dropped in from a bit of ways out from the combat and was moving in from the west. The overboosters carrying it quickly over the terrian and he radios out to both EFA and A-laws. <<"This is Archangel, I am assisting in this fight, and don't worry, your not paying the paycheck.">> He says the last part with a chuckle. Because today, he is going after the ever famous, DC.

SOMETIME EARLIER, LIKE, NOT ALL THAT LONG AGO (NO RLY)

It's been a busy month for the A-LAWS, though Excellen has found herself relegated to more menial scouting duties as of late, held in reserve in case someone needed to back up the heavier hitters - or cover their retreat. Today, however, with the scrambling alarms ringing in her ears, she finds herself presented with a question mid-walk up the maintanence ramp to her machine.

Blue eyes widen a moment as she considers the request, before they fall on the dark shadow that fills over half the hold dedicated to housing the ATX Team. Looming over the wreck of the Altesien.

Excellen Browning smiles, and points over his shoulder.

"Only if I get to pilot that."

LESS THAN 10 SECONDS FROM NOW

Out of the storm they ride, the ATX Team 3. For once, she takes up rear position for the squad, ignoring the instinctive twitchy that seeing Weissy dodge back and forth so much seems to stir in her. Honestly, she really doesn't get why people have so much trouble with her machine. Still, it isn't as though her current machine is much better for her, either. Hands wrestle on the controls a moment, the thrum at her back a familiar sound; a tesla drive is a tesla drive, even if the one attached to this machine is hardly regular sized, and backed up by the sort of generator previously reserved for war ships.

The rain sweeps across black, gold and red as something huge lands with a mighty slam into the concrete. She's not...entirely sure what's going on yet. Save that the DC are in New York. Attacking the City. Drawing itself up to its full height, the Grungust Type-0's great fists swing, colliding and knocking aside stray DC units that move in too closely -- and a rather chipper voice sounds out on the airwaves.

"AND I...!"

"COME!"

"FOOOOOOOOOORTH!"

...She has *always* wanted to say that.

Lamia, alive?! Is it really possible? Meiya didn't know her very well personally, but she did know Excellen was close to her, and Excellen has been a good friend to her.

The freshly repaired Type-00R which just got done dealing with Orcs in England yesterday - flies over the skies of New York, sighting the DC units, Meiya frowns.... then frowns harder as Lloyd Asplund, Earl of Pudding and Master Science Jackass insults her over the radio. "'High Maintence'" she growls. "We'll see about that."

The Type-00R descends to the street and lands, two toed feet sparkign against the ashphalt as it comes to a stop "Lam-" then the Laggann combines with the Vysaga. "-ia?!"

This is going to make a hell of a report.

 Mister Bushido transmits, "I'm still dropping towards the surface; what seems to be happening?"

Rather than a blue Huckebein Mk. II, a red Grungust is following the other two ATX Team units in its flight-capable Wing Gust mode, and thus absolutely everything about the team is non-standard today. But at least Bullet's unit suits him well enough. As for the other two... "Today is just an accident waiting to happen," the Psychodriver laments. He's not sure what scares him more, the prospect of Kyosuke swinging the Weissritter's massive rifle around like a baseball bat, or... whatever Excellen's going to do in the Type 0.

And considering the enemy units popping up on the radar upon their approach, he can only add, "Oh great, I hate it when I'm right."

Even so, they have a job to do. "Assault-3, roger!" Hopefully Kyosuke is not expecting /every/ maneuver he's making to be copied, because seriously, some of it is just... well, he's not gonna say anything. Even though he's not terribly convinced Kyosuke and Excellen know what they're doing in this particular instance, that's never stopped them before.

You can bet he's sweatdropping something fierce when he hears the way Excellen announces herself, though.

 Excellen Browning, as though she hadn't just yelled something potentially silly on the open local band in NYC: "Assault-2, present~!"

 Shiro Amada says something muffled, and then transmits, "Lance-5, en route!"

 Rei Ayanami transmits, "Unsure. Terrain bluhhhaaawwwking view. --blocking view. Proceeding to target."

 Rio Mei Long transmits, "Apparently Lamia is alive and needs assistance!"

 Mister Bushido goes palpably quiet.

 Excellen Browning transmits, "..What."

 Excellen Browning distinctly startled.

 Brooklyn Luckfield transmits, "Wha-- Lamia... is that really... she's alive?! Are you sure?!"

 Excellen Browning emits a string of ellipses.

 Russel Bagman transmits, "Wait Lamia?! She's alive?!"

"...Oh god," Simon says as the Gurren Lagann gestalts with Lamia's machine. "Do you really think so..? Are we all going to die???" He freaks out, holding his head in his hands, and then he blinks, recovers, and says, "Hey, I should say 'welcome back', not something as depressing as that, right?" He smiles, "It'll work out. Big Bro's here, and Seolla's comin', and a lot of your friends! If they outmatch us, we'll just beat 'em with numbers!"

Boota, of course, is not so sure this is actually Lamia and decides to investigate her identity the best way he knows how--by leaping down into the Vysaga proper and leaping for her robocleavage.

Ah, Yazan's heading straight for them, they need to hold on a little so big bro can save them, Simon thinks.

Drill fists push out of the Vysaga Lagann's fists as it steps backward, digging itself in and bracing for impact.

"Lamia--I'll support you, but we'll try and hold on for our friends, okay?"

 Mister Bushido finally speaks again, his tone dangerously tense. "Secure the area, then we will figure out what is happening here."

 Rei Ayanami transmits, "Ack--"

 Rei Ayanami transmits, "Acknowledged."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Excellen Browning clears her throat a moment, before, oddly flat: "It's probably a trap. Don't trust anything the Shadow Mirrors might be tryin' to do to mess with our heads."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Mister Bushido transmits, "That is why we will secure the area first. Do not hesitate."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Shiro Amada transmits, "Understood."

<Radio: E - Minerva's Lance> Shiro Amada transmits, "Lance-3--Rei, you alright?"

The Randgrith finally catches up, no longer trailing smoke - because Echidna landed it and /ran/ the last segment, the enormous feet of the war machine slamming against the pavement and asphalt with enough force to crack it.

What, she thinks, is it doing. Some unit she doesn't know is attacking the Vysaga; she runs it through her Divine Crusader database, then the Shadow Mirror one in an attempt to identify it, but she has never seen the Lagann before and cannot.

She spreads the Randgrith's hand while ignoring a doubt that runs through her head. From hidden under the giant shoulder shield, a cylindrical hilt drops out; it telescopes until it's a pole almost as long as the Randgrith is tall. She managed to get the custom unit. She is not going to complain about it.

There are EFA units in the area, EFA and A-LAWS. Echidna finally does let her emotions run; she takes that pit of anger in the depths of her heart and lets it burn. Very deliberately, she starts walking directly toward the Vysaga.

Let them stop her.

<Radio: E - Minerva's Lance> Rei Ayanami, after a pause, speaking /really quickly/: "Pilot diagnostics indicate nominal operating parameters."

<Radio: E - Minerva's Lance> Shiro Amada transmits, "Uh..." He takes a second to catch up. "...alright then. I've got your back."

<Radio: E - Minerva's Lance> Rei Ayanami still sped-up: "Acknwldgd."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "This is all pretty dramatic, eh?"

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Getter is dealing with some jackass dinosaurs, so good luck."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Hayato Jin transmits, over the sound of machinegun fire and shrieks both human and inhuman, "They're pretty much dead."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Ryouma Nagare transmits, "Haha, I told you today was lucky. Freakin' velociraptors."

The is, rather abruptly, a loud noise in the sky overhead; it's somehow louder than the peal of thunder, as SOMETHING breaks through the storm-tossed skies, scattering clouds to create a column of clear air behind it through sheer velocity, through disrupting air currents and overwhelming force and speed. As the clouds melt back together behind it, lightning crashes, giving a harsh illumination to the spindly figure of a red and black mobile suit, along the same lines as a USAF Flag, but with a mighty crest rising from its head. It is also, of course, lit by the two burnt-orange, curved beam blades rising from its hands, one in each, and the spilling GN particle energies around it. The One Man Army is here. "Lamia Loveless, is it?" the possibly insane ace mutters off of the radio, sounding and feeling more troubled than he can easily rationalise in his current mindset. Just focus on the situation at hand, he tells himself. Just secure the area, and then find out what's actually happening, just as he instructed the others on the radio. No hesitation. Do the job. With a faint tch, Bushido shakes his head as if to clear it. Very probably, he should withdraw. He should've stayed on the orbital ring. Taking a deep breath, he closes his green eyes and tilts his head back. Focus. Don't allow impossibilities to interfere. He reaches out, and flicks on the radio to speak on a wide band. Everybody can hear him. "CRUSADER FORCES!" Mister Bushido bellows into the radio, because that's how he rolls. "IF ANY OF YOU VALUE YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES, WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY! OTHERWISE... PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE HEREAFTER!"

So, the driller boy, was it? Vindel crosses his arms for a moment, looking down at the suddenly combined Vysaga and Lagann, wondering just what the boy from La Gias was planning on doing. Still, he could not allow anyone to interfere - it was the code that they had followed ever since the Shadow Mirrors had set forth from their own dimension. Do not turn on your allies. Do not betray your friends. Leave no man behind, unless it is their final wish to die for the good of the others. Lamia does not follow any of those qualifications right now. "Move aside, driller," Vindel states, the Zweizergain uncrossing it's arms and making a gestures to the side, motioning for Lagann to depart. "This android is damaged, her systems currently suffering from some massive unknown error. We attempted to bring her back to life, but it seems that we condemned her to a half life, crazed delusional version of the world that she viewed before. We are taking her back, to determine what exactly is wrong with her. "Or, to give her the burial she deserves. As a traitor, or as an honored member of the DC, depending on her actions in the next short while." The twenty copies scattered in a loose circle around the Vysaga suddenly explode into a rapid burst of motion. Four of them lunge in, aiming to grab the Vysaga's arms and legs, each one moving to hold a single limb tight and keep the machine from escaping. Another aims to put the machine in a full nelson, while the last tries to grab the Lagann and twist it back and forth, trying to dislodge the small machine from the super robot.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has attacked Lamia Loveless and Simon. Six Robot Restraint added to their queue.

Yazan Gable listens to his radio. He disregards the talk about saving the pilot's life. What he chooses to hear?

'...recovery of the pilot is a secondary concern--'

"Whoops," Yazan casually to himself as those twin beam sabers swing up and the massive thruster array on the Xeku Zwei ignites to full thrust.

"/Me an' my damn butterfingers!/"

The Xeku Zwei dives down, its dodai helpfully assisting its thrust so that the bulky machine drives itself forward even /faster./ It's only as the Lagann leaps upon the Vysaga that Yazan's brows furrow; he leans forward and squints, even as the Vysaga grows rapidly closer. "The fuck is that?"

Ultimately, though--

"Eh, not gonna matter much when you're dead, right?! HAH!"

The cockpit hatch closes just as the Xeku Zwei pierces into the Vysaga's defenses. Its mono-eye glows bright as its uppermost sub-arms lift up... and then /thrust/ down, aiming to do little less than impale the Vysaga straight through its cockpit and incinerate the woman inside to death.

Just like he /said/ they should do.

"GUESS A ROBOT SOUL JUST AIN'T UP TO SNUFF, EH?!"

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Lamia Loveless. Dual Beam Sabers added to their queue.

Rio was busy in the sims when word started to come through about Lamia. And about who's after her. By the time Rio is running to her PT, things sound pretty bad... Good thing the Hiryuu is in the area!

A white gespenst takes a step forward, its optics flash once before it walks onto the launch catapult. "Rio Mei Long, Gespenst T-Link Type, Launching!" The white PT chases, belatedly, after the ATX team.

Fernando's eyes cast over the battlefield. An acceptable target...

The Takemikazuchi catches his eye. Armed with a melee weapon, it's most likely to give him an enjoyable fight in melee (probably)...and when Valefar subconsciously agrees, in that part of Fernando's mind that may not be his anymore, Fernando leaps off the building in a flip, Valefar's foot thrust out as it aims to blow a hole in the Takemikazuchi's chest and leave it broken and beaten. If it can't even get out of the way of /that/, then...well, clearly he misjudged it.

The Gurren races toward the wreck that Lagann just combined with. The pilot takes another bite of sandwhich as he spots the descending Yazan Gable and his violator machine. As if on cue, The Gurren leeps behind the Xeku Zwei. "'EY 'EY!!! That's my little brother staking his claim on a woman! DON'T COCKBLOCK MY BRO'S MACKING ASS PUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Gurren brings back it's fist and attempts to impossible. He is going to violate the Violator. The fist flies forward, aiming for Xeku Zwei's ass would be if it was a person. If there is any justice, Kamina will make Yazan feel this.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has attacked Meiya Mitsurugi. DYNAMIC ENTRY added to their queue.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has missed Meiya Mitsurugi with his DYNAMIC ENTRY attack.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Lamia Loveless with his Six Robot Restraint attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Drill Slam.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has missed Lamia Loveless with his Dual Beam Sabers attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using Drilling Blazer Blade.

COMBAT: Kamina has attacked Yazan Gable. DON'T COCKBLOCK MY BRO'S MACKING ASS PUNCH added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kamina has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Simon with his Six Robot Restraint attack.

COMBAT: Simon has missed Vindel Mauser with his Drill Slam counter attack.

COMBAT: Kamina has struck a glancing hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using DON'T COCKBLOCK MY BRO'S MACKING ASS PUNCH.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has missed Kamina with his Thruster Burst counter attack.

Divine Crusaders. should have figured. Marcus brings up his taregtting computer and sets the DC IFFs to hostile, then starts powering up the weapon systems, "Can't even eat in peace without you Crusaders getting uppity, can I? Maybe a good old fashion beating is in order." One particular IFF is singled out, for no other reason than sheer, random chance. Marcus doesn't particularly care which of the crusaders he shoots, cause they're all viable targets and are equally deserving of pain. With a flick of the switch, he cycles his weapon grouping over to his Doombud Long-Range Missile Rack and settles his targetting pip on the distant machine. It only takes a few moments for the computer to give him a lock tone. As he presses the trigger, the hip mounted launcher spits fire and missiles, sending a flught twenty strong hurtling through the rain and wind towards their target: Johnny Ridden!

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Doombud LRM-20 added to their queue.

Some weird variety of machine flies through the air - well, many weird variaties. The rather filled sky and ground of opposing forces is just like a buffet, and it's perhaps the best part - to choose what you're going to play with.

In this case, it turns out Cynthia's taken an interest ( perhaps because it looks slow and clunky - or interesting ) the Red one - Grungust that is. "Oooh, those things are always fun. But I wonder if the pilot kn ows what he's doing...?"

"Oh, we'll find out~!" That guy who was really good when she fought him before - yells out to the battlefield? "Geeze, you're good but you're just going to get swamped." She 'helpfully' radios out to the area, before the Dominator, falling towards the ground - slams straight into it, under Bullet.

And then immediately rebounds, shooting straight up, intending to drill straight into the bottom of the Wingust!

"HEY! You're going to be fun to play with, right?!"

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has attacked Brooklyn Luckfield. Amorphous Strike added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has missed Brooklyn Luckfield with her Amorphous Strike attack.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has counter attacked for a minor hit on Cynthia Lane's Dominator using Missile.

When Lamia's attention flicks back to proper consciousness, she blinks twice. It feels like something fell off, in an obscure way she can't place... and she doesn't have time to think about it. The link up with Lagann turns the radio systems, previously disabled in case of a Code ATA signal, back on - in time for her to hear...

"Graham?" she says, wonderingly. There are others coming, that quickly? Buildings, sadly, keep her from seeing the approaching pair of Grungusts and their terrifying blue and white escort. Of course, Lamia has greater problems --

-- namely, six Zweizergains streaking outwards, grasping onto Vysaga, even as its new form seems to fully resolve. There is a lot more... twisting on various parts, and the head, perhaps, seems less ominously demonic. Lamia pushes forwards to strain against the embrace, saying as she does: "Simon... I'm sorry I brought them here. I - I've hurt all of you too often..."

Vysaga's arms slam outwards, the blue-glowing blades shading to green as Lamia keys the general transmitter. Maybe he'll just kill her now, she thinks, but - But Vysaga's computer should have enough information for them. Simon will do it.

"I resign my commission," she answers Vindel, even as she struggles to get loose -- which may require MORE THAN TRIVIAL EFFORT. Despite this, one arm has gotten clearly free, and Yazan Gable's suicide dive right at the central cockpit --

slides off, if fractionally. "You must love that knife," Lamia mutters to herself, extended arm flicking backwards - a shower of burning blades arc into the side of the Xeku Zwei, before it curves around to dig hellish fingers into the machine and, with a visible straining of whatever mechanism now lurks beneath the regenerated blue plating, hurl it downwards -- possibly right into Kamina's wrath?!

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Yazan Gable. Throw Yazan From The Train added to their queue.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has missed Yazan Gable with her Throw Yazan From The Train attack.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has struck a major hit on Johnny Ridden's AMX-011S Zaku III Ridden Custom using Doombud LRM-20.

"Bold words," Axel snarls. His lips twist into a scowl -- and he hits the thrusters of the Soulgain. The super robot explodes through the air, a trail of blue and white cutting through the New York skies. One fist swings backward, as he looks down at the Masurao. One of the Soulgain's fists raises back as he does.

Blue lightning explodes across the armor. His eyes narrow, and the fingers tighten; the energy disperses across the armor, as the machine swings in, quickly, for Mister Bushido's Mobile Suit.

"I'LL RIP THROUGH YOU TO GET TO HER!" he bellows. The fist punches out, trying to push the Masurao aside.

Echidna Iisaki keeps advancing. It's slow, ponderous; the Randgrith is not known for its grace. It's too broad for that.

She hears every word Lamia says. She can't just - resign! She was made to serve. She is a loyal servant, the same as W16 - the same as Echidna. Whatever Lemon says, Lamia must be broken, damaged, defective.

Or she, W16, is, and Echidna will not agree with that.

Echidna looks up as Mr. Bushido, whose voice she can place against DC records, speaks. Without bothering to respond herself, she checks her missile capacity - low - and fires one anyway; one of the shoulders slides back, launching a colossal missile through the air. As it flies, the missile opens up, splitting into a half dozen smaller ones that rocket much faster.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Mister Bushido. Matrix Missile added to their queue.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has attacked Mister Bushido. Electric Punch added to their queue.

Fact: The Zaku III has an entire suite of tools for missile defense; lock-on warnings, distance and direction indicators, all sorts of fun things.

Fact: None of that matters for dick if the missiles are targetting your Dodai and not you.

One second, Johnny is sitting on his Dodai, watching the shit hit the fan below, trying to keep a shot on the Vysaga even though it appears to be being raped by another, drillier robot, and the next he's dropping out of the sky like a brick, wreathed in flames, wondering what the shit just happened.

The Zaku III's thrusters flare to life, turning its fall into a controlled descent, and it whips around in midair to face the direction the missiles came from after Johnny has a few moments to piece together what the shit did, in fact, just happen. A heartbeat later, its huge bazooka swings up and a single, enormous rocket explodes through the air towards Marcus's Atlas; an instant later, the Zaku lands heavily on the ground, crushing a Neo-7-Eleven underfoot.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has attacked Marcus Gunter. Ultra Mega Mega Launcher added to their queue.

Somehow, GN Evangelion Unit-00X achieves two objectives in crossing New York to the site of the battle:

1. Do not knock over any buildings.

2. Do not step on Lance-5.

That second one is only barely achieved a couple times, though. Inside the plug, Rei Ayanami bites her lower lip. Talking is difficult, for some reason. Focusing isn't, though. Well. It is and it isn't. She finds herself trying to watch the entire battlefield at once, rather than just picking a target and gunning for it. Even as the GN Eva draws its Pellet Pistol -- with no buildings to stash them in, they just mounted the guns on the thing's armor plating -- and cocks it, Rei can't settle on a target. The barrel of the pistol zigs and zags, moving from one target to another, taking no shots.

Inside: Rei Ayanami's eyes feel tense. "Hnnnn."

FIVE SECONDS AGO The Weisritter dips noticeably as SHOCKING NEWS is broadcast.

NOW It's trailing a dusty line of broken mortar bits as it regains altitude, soaring relatively steadily as it rushes in toward the gathered DC forces, already in the heated turmoil of combat. For example, there's the famed One Man Army, dealing with both the Soulgain /and/ missiles. One of those alone would be enough for any man, which Mr. Bushido clearly is by his aforementioned title. Weissy zips forward, doing a quick barrel roll as it continues its ridiculously acrobatic antics (maybe the key is that you /have/ to showoff, Kyosuke thinks). From somewhere within the white and blue tornado, a quick burst of pink beam fire erupts out, searing across the cloudy sky toward the Randgrith.

Meiya gapes as the Vysaga completes it's transformation. She keeps forgetting what Simon's little machine can do, it's been a while since she had to ride in it.

Fortunatly Meiya pays attention to her surroundings.

When the flicker of motion is seen in the corner of her eye, Meiya pulsl the controls back, stepping the Type-00R backwards with one foot, pivoting on the other, and letting the Valefar impact the ground. "-You!" Oh damnit, this wasn't supposed to happen. She knows theres nothing for it now though, and reaches the Type-00R's hand over it's shoulder to take hold of the curved PB Blade.

She'll just have to put Fernando down again for getting uppity.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Beam Cannon Triple Fire added to their queue.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has attacked Fernando Albark. PB Blade added to their queue.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has missed Marcus Gunter with his Ultra Mega Mega Launcher attack.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Thunderstroke SRM-6 counter attack.

Did Kamina just try to kancho Yazan Gable? Simon imagines this, and throws up in his mouth a little. Cringing, he coughs twice. Now's not the time to be thinking about Kamina sticking his fingers up someone's butt! IT IS TOTALLY NOT THE RIGHT TIME. He wonders if Lamia's alright, that drill coming down can be pretty scary but it's not like it actually hit her right? right? right? ha ha ha ha ... ha. Simon isn't really 'macking', though Boota may be getting pretty friendly there.

"I'm not going to let you kill her." He says simply, "Listen to you, you say she's damaged but you're going to kill her as a traitor? Caring about other people isn't damage. And how would I be able to look all my friends, her friends, in the face if I just back down because you're stronger than us?"

A drill snaps up and smacks the grasping hands of Vindel's mech away from the Vysaga Lagann--it doesn't do any damage, but it prevents the Gattai from being readily disrupted, it's a smooth motion, but Lamia continues forward with her forward motion towards Yazan's machine--preventing an immediate followup, but Simon seems content to let Lamia do the heavy lifting here.

Pressing the Lagann's control sticks, Simon focuses--and expels several small drill bits which fly back towards Zweizergain.

"...Hey bro!" Simon says suddenly, "I just realized... Zweizergain...and Soulgain! They both have 'gain' in their names!"

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has struck a major hit on Mister Bushido's Masurao using Matrix Missile.

COMBAT: Simon has attacked Vindel Mauser. flying Drill Bits added to their queue.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has struck a minor hit on Mister Bushido's Masurao using Electric Punch.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has missed Axel Almer with his Flag Martial Arts counter attack.

COMBAT: Simon has struck a minor hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using flying Drill Bits.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has struck a major hit on Fernando Albark's Valefar using PB Blade.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has counter attacked for a minor hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Return to Sender.

Well, there's only one thing to say to all this:

"What the HELL is this BULLSHIT?!"

As elegant as ever, Yazan Gable nearly spits the words out as the twin sabers of the Xeku Zwei clash and scrape against armor instead of a more yielding cockpit. The Vysaga looks different; is it because of that robot? Snarling, Gable lifts the second pair of the Xeku Zwei's sub-arms--

--only to have crackling blades /slam/ into the Zwei's heavily armored side. "Wh--?!" Gripped up, the Xeku is /shoved/ off of its flight platform; its heavy form twists violently through the air as it is sent ground-wards, right towards Kamina's awaiting fist--

The absolutely immense thruster set of the RMS-142 Xeku Zwei activates a second before the Gurren's mighty fist can make impact with the Xeku Zwei's ghetto ass. Instead, the fist raps briefly across the tremendous posterior of the Xeku Zwei just before it bodily launches into the air, like some sort of, some sort of... /ass-glance/?!

"I don't even know what the hell you're tryin' to say, you little twit," Gable growls out as he twists at the controls of his machine; the Xeku withdraws the machinegun ratcheted onto its back as it twists in mid-air, facing downward towards the Gurren.

"But don't you worry your stupid head over it, I'll take my sweet time figurin' it all out when you're a bloody smear on the earth."

The trigger of the machine-gun is thusly squeezed, and solid shells rain down towards the city limits below, aiming to do no less than rip through the Gurren and pepper it with a hellacious amount of high-speed artillery fire.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Kamina. 120mm Machinegun added to their queue.

Bullet's focus takes a bit of a hit from the news on the radio, to put it mildly. "Lamia...? Is that really... she's alive?!" He never stopped feeling terrible for not being around to help when... it happened. If only he'd have been there, he knows he could've done something, anything, to prevent Lamia's death. If there's a chance, even the slightest chance that she survived, then now he has a chance to make up for his earlier negligence. Yes, 'not being there' qualifies as negligence in this case.

Unfortunately, he isn't really given the chance to take stock of the general situation before there's an Incoming Unit warning. "What, from where...?" Before his equipment gives him the answer, he somehow knows, "From below?!" It must be his awesome psychic powers! No, actually it's just because Cynthia helpfully announced herself beforehand.

Bullet is suddenly pretty glad to have his Grungust in Wing Gust mode, since it can actually maneuver worth a damn. Not nearly as well as a plane, but well enough to zig-zag through the air, and thankfully he doesn't zig when he should've zagged this time. "What the heck is that thing?", he wonders aloud, and then immediately shoots missiles at it. It's not THAT important to know what it is before shooting it.

Executing a sharp turn, the Wing Gust immediately doubles back for another approach. "I'm not here to play, so get out of my way!" He's a poet and he don't know it. What he does know is frickin' laser beams. "Double Omega Laser!"

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has attacked Cynthia Lane. Double Omega Laser added to their queue.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has struck a major critical hit on Kamina's Gurren using 120mm Machinegun.

COMBAT: Kamina has missed Yazan Gable with his How Dare You Do That To My Precious Underling! Punch counter attack.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Meiya Mitsurugi transmits, "The blue Shura has decided to... partake. Engaging it."

Resign? Resign?!? "You act as if you have a comission to resign," Vindel states coldly. "Don't speak as if you were someone who had been with us from the beginning. You were created by Lemon to serve! The W-Series has been extremely valuable, but you are still tools. Intelligent, thinking tools, ones that perform their duties well, but a machine in the end should know it's own place!" The Vysaga itself is no mere machine - it breaks away from the copies of the Zweizergain, the 'other' versions of the super robot vanishing into blue flickering flashes of light as they are knocked away. The original had not joined into the pileup, remaining aloof from the scrum. Now it seems that Lamia is not going to come quietly - and that more direct action will have to be taken. "W-17..." Vindel states, closing his eyes. "Tell me, why do you believe that you must leave us? Let us assume that you are in possession of all of your mental faculties. You were a loyal soldier for a very long time. Tell me, why do you betray us? Tell me..." And suddenly the Zweizergain's sword appears in a flash of light, Vindel leveling the blade at the Vysagann. The super robo leaps forward, blasting through the oncoming drills, explosions rippling around the robot as it's blade snaps around in a horizontal blow straight towards the chest of the Vysaga. "...with your sword!"

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has attacked Lamia Loveless. Sword Wind Cutter added to their queue.

The blade swings down, and Valefar's hand whips up to take it; the blade digs into the machine, its blood/oil spurting forth from the wound as Fernando twists his palm around to continue the blow. His own palm snaps out to plant a hand on the Takemikazuchi's chest as his foot whips around to kick off the ground and spring away for all of a moment. Faster than he thought she-

As Meiya speaks, Fernando just kind of snorts. "So it is you," he observes as Valefar adopts its pose. "Heh. I warned you," Fernando decides as he spins, gathering power in his hand. With a snap of his fist, one of the blue ki dragons roars from Valefar's hand, streaking towards Meiya and threatening to dig into the Takemikazuchi and overload it from the inside-out.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has attacked Meiya Mitsurugi. Ryubutsu added to their queue.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has struck a solid hit on Cynthia Lane's Dominator using Double Omega Laser.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has missed Brooklyn Luckfield with her Energy Blast counter attack.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has missed Echidna Iisaki with his Beam Cannon Triple Fire attack.

Indecision is dangerous on the battlefield. It is also a hardcore band that began in the Brooklyn area in 1993, and then played for about seven years before breaking up in the way a lot of bands do. The precise location of their breakup was a minor local landmark, an open parking lots behind the location of their last show where the dreams of the artists died. It vanishes under the foot of Coop Cooplowski's giant robot, emerging a second or two later, still a landmark. Just...flatter.

The Black Thirteen shows little of Reai Ayanami's care as it rumbles through the forgotten borough, clipping streetlamps and crushing vehicles as it rushes toward the ongoing battle. The GN Evangelion attracts more of his attention than other machines at first by virtue of simply being big enough to bother with. Perhaps noting her tension, Coop fires a helpful hand forward toward the Evangelion's back, perhaps seeking to rub out some of that unwanted tension with a gigantic metal fist.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has attacked Rei Ayanami. Fisting The Teenage Girl From Behind added to their queue.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has struck a solid hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Ryubutsu.

Ah, quite like watching a 'mech explode into a brilliant fireball. Or Mobile Suit, whatever. It's something Marcus rarely gets to see: Not because he can't shoot anything down mind you. It's just that Battlemechs are a gigantic pain in the ass to actually destroy instead of disable, with their silly things known as 'failsafes' and 'rugged construction'. Pity he doesn't get to see the payoff of the Zaku faceplanting from it's little fall. No time for staring though, as Johnny proves to be surprisingly quick on the draw. A second flight of six missiles launch out of the tubes higher up on the chest of the Atlas as Marcus maneuvers his machine behind a building, taking cover as the bazooka shell hurtles past. Sadly, these misisles don't have the fancy targetting system of the LRMs, being of the more primitive 'dumbfire' variety, so it's no surprise that they scatter all around the Zaku without actually hitting it. "Hmmm... that hand cannon of his looks pretty nasty. Better get in closer..." Marcus muses to himself as he throttles up his machine and accelerates to a brisk 40 kph, using the buildings all around him as cover to limit his exposure to fire as much as possible. Every so often though, theor line of sights meet, and Marcus takes potshots with his Hellion-V Lasers during any opportunity.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Hellion-V Medium Laser added to their queue.

Let's face some facts here: Things don't go super great for the Masurao in the next few moments. The enormous missile is launched the mobile suit's way, and that's just plain problematic; GN-T drives revving up, it tries to dodge, but the sudden scattering of smaller missiles catches the Masurao in the ensuing explosion, which clears up pretty much just in time for Bushido to see the Soulgain flying at him. Axel Almer's behaviour is... Odd. Might it not actually be the trap that Excellen suggested it is? Could it actually be...?! Lips pulling back from teeth in a grimace, Mister Bushido twists the Masurao in a strike of its own, fist carrying a suddenly deactivated beam saber hilt lashing out at the Soulgain even as the Crusader machine's fist comes in; the Masurao's fist, unfortunately, passes harmlessly just by the Soulgain's head, while the Masurao itself is struck, driving it back. That went badly. And Mister Bushido doesn't care. "Very well, you made your choice," his voice says, over the wide band again, dangerously quiet rather than its usual shouty volume. "If you're after them so badly, then... I will stop you!" With a quickness, he reactivates the beam blade, and swings both katanas at the Soulgain in a blurring fast slash, each sword making a fan of burnt-orange light in the dark sky; the regular size blade in its right hand, named for the fallen OverFlags pilot Howard Mason, and the oversized beam katana in its left, named similarly for Darryl Dodge. Bushido has always sought to secure the vengeance of his fallen comrades, and Lamia Loveless was no different. /Is/ no different, he tries to tell himself. Here, he's just going to slaughter as many Crusaders as he can. "RAAAAGH!!"

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has attacked Axel Almer. Howard and Darryl added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has struck a glancing hit on Johnny Ridden's AMX-011S Zaku III Ridden Custom using Hellion-V Medium Laser.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has activated a spirit command.

"Well that's too bad!" Cynthia exclaims, just as the Grungust twists away - blasting at the Dominator first with missiles - which explode against it - and then with lasers, two beams, piercing through the sky and then into the Dominator - as it tries to fire back. "Ghhh... That's not supposed to happen!" Cynthia explains so helpfully, before the Dominator twists around - to a more human mode.

"So you're going have to /really/ try, otherwise I'm going to make sure you're not going to have a chance~! ... Otherwise it won't be fun, you know?" The explanation is secondary, because as the Dominator spins around - human - with two scorch marks over it, a rather odd arch appears above - firing a solid beam straight towards the Grugunst.

"You're not going to take care of me that easily!"

It rolls forwards, back into a spherical mode, as it chases after the Grgunst - beams, and more beams following the first!

COMBAT: Evil Coop has struck Rei Ayanami with a solid hit using Fisting The Teenage Girl From Behind!

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has missed Evil Coop with her Instinctive Clench counter attack.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has attacked Brooklyn Luckfield. Energy Burst added to their queue.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has struck a major hit on Axel Almer's Soulgain using Howard and Darryl.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has counter attacked for a minor hit on Mister Bushido's Masurao using Genbu Goudan.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has struck a solid hit on Lamia Loveless's VR-02L Vysagann using Sword Wind Cutter.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Fast Draw.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has struck a major hit on Brooklyn Luckfield's Wing Gust using Energy Burst.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has missed Cynthia Lane with his Swoop Wing counter attack.

Kamina hears Simon over the radio, blinking for a moment. "Yeah. They do. Simon, we're gonna need to take them both out before they breed." Kamina says as if he knows for a fact they will. He is an expert on where Super Robot's come from after all.

And then Yazan starts swearing and blasting away, making several nice dents on the hull of the Gurren, cracking one of the Gunmen's teeth. Kamina growls as Yazan finishes, moving to counter. With a mighty leep, the Gurren flies toward the Xeku Zwei, yelling "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO---". Unfortunately, the red Gunmen misses the punch and just goes crashing to the ground, giving Yazan something more to laugh about. The mech finally comes to a stop when it crashes into some debris.

"Grrr. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" The Gurren's eyes shine as it gets back up to it's feet and rips the shades from it's chest. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

It pulls the shades back and aims to toss the spinning sunglasses toward Yazan's cockpit. "SIMON! We're gonna need to try something different!"

COMBAT: Kamina has attacked Yazan Gable. Making Things Up added to their queue.

"Gh..." Axel growls, softly.

The Soulgain slams the fists of the machine forward, trying to catch the arms before the sabers come in -- but the result cuts ribbons of armor away from the huge, armored super robot. Molten slices of metal drop to the ground below, and the arms turn around. The blades stab inward, trying to cut along the Masurao's body as they come whipping backward.

"You think this'll make any difference?" he says. "I'll rip through you -- and get to HER!"

The machine's left foot suddenly explodes with blue flame and sweeps up -- striking in a wide arc and kicking hard at the Masurao's midsection. The right follows, and it launches a rapid-fire spin, feet flying one after the other at Bushido's machine.

"SHIN'YOU!"

COMBAT: Axel Almer has attacked Mister Bushido. Shin'you added to their queue.

Evangelion Unit-00X's Objective 2 is, to Lance-5, significantly more important than Objective 1, on that little list. There is no particular reason why.

He's a little worried. Lance-3 is speaking weirdly, and he's not sure why. A technical malfunction, maybe? He hopes it's nothing serious. He's about to ask another question when he sees... incoming fire in the form of a giant metal fist! Fortunately, he's a lot lower to the ground than the Evangelion is, but-- "Rei, behind you!"

Shiro turns the Ez8 around, levelling his machine gun at the massive Black Thirteen. He readjusts his aim, pointing it upward and firing a burst of solid rounds at the thing's midsection and head, moving down a side street to try and keep out of stompin' distance.

Being good fire support means never getting squished.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has attacked Evil Coop. Covering Fire added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kamina has struck a major critical hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using Making Things Up.

A second after Marcus's Atlas vanishes behind a building, the crimson and black Zaku III steps out of the ruins of the 7-Eleven it just crushed, takes a few experimental steps, and then fires its thrusters, skimming along just above the ground like an extremely ghetto Dom. It vanishes into the maze of streets that the Atlas has marched into, and the two machines proceed to perform one of those Scooby-Doo door scenes, except with streets and gunfire.

Every once in awhile, line of sight pops up for a split second between the two, and Marcus fires... but his lasers never do more than just barely graze the Zaku, burning thin black lines along its hull.

Eventually, once Johnny has his bearings enough, he starts circling the vastly slower Atlas, appearing in different intersections and down different streets each time, moving far faster than any BattleMech possibly could. and every few times the Zaku pops into view, it fires another enormous rocket towards the Atlas.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has attacked Marcus Gunter. Ultra Mega Mega Launcher - Rapid Fire added to their queue.

Lamia is compelled to elaborate. "That's correct," she informs Simon. "Angelg's original model code was 'Angelgain,' but the mass production version was reduced in output and shortened in name as well."

She has greater problems.

Vindel's words make her think, initially, that she should provide unfettered truth. There is the small problem, however, of ultimate loyalties... (Satisfied, the tiny drills that had sunk in through her skin, smaller than a bamboo chopstick, slide back: Lamia doesn't notice.)

"I assess our goals and those of the Earth Federal Government and its people," Lamia answers. "And --"

Vysaga's blade whips out with a shimmer of blue green light. Sadly, Lamia had not counted on whatever glorious influence the Lagann bears making it slightly shorter; as such, her planned parry is really more of a counterslash, a deep groove appearing on Vysa-gann's shoulder as she turns to face the now-singular Zweizergain. She continues where she left out: "Your ideals are ineffective. Perhaps preferrable to Britannia's... But this is not Britannia:"

The blade whips around, spiralling as Lamia slides it backwards, underneath her arm -- it /elongates/, ridiculously, at the last moment, to stab at the side of the Xeku Zwei!? "And this world does not deserve your torment!"

Echidna Iisaki does not fire again at Mister Bushido.

Echidna is doing two things at once. With half of her attention, she is trying a last-ditch attempt to bring Lamia back. It's not too late. Mauser will pull back, she's sure, if Lamia surrenders. Or that was her hope, until Lamia says the last few words that dash what hope she allowed herself.

The anger rises. When Kyosuke fires at her, she brings the heavy machine backwards several steps and then takes off into the air again; for probably one of the first times, /he/ gets to be the fast, agile one in a fight.

Holding the long extendible pole in one hand, Echidna's Randgrith reaches up, pulling the bazooka on her shoulder down into place. Without really taking aim, she fires it twice, accelerating toward the Weissritter.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Yazan Gable. Vysaga Dance added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Kyosuke Nanbu. Linear Bazooka added to their queue.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has missed Yazan Gable with her Vysaga Dance attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has struck a solid hit on Kyosuke Nanbu's Weissritter using Linear Bazooka.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has counter attacked for a minor hit on Echidna Iisaki's RGV-30 Randgrith using Split Missile.

The first return strike from Fernando only marks the Takemikazuch's armor, it's the folow up strike that does appreciable damage. The dragon fails to pentrate the armor completely, only slaming the Takemikazuchi backards as it tries, voraciously to eat at the armor. Thankfull the Type-00R was made to fight organic things that shoot high powered lasers, and doesn't sucumb to an energy strike so easily.

When the light of the dragon clears, the Type-00R has enaged it's engines, despite the glowing, smoking hole in it's upper chest, and comes screaming right back at Fernando's Shura God. The blade held parralel tot he ground as it comes to stab straight in to the Valefar. "And I warned you!"

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has attacked Fernando Albark. PB Blade added to their queue.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has struck a major critical hit on Fernando Albark's Valefar using PB Blade.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has counter attacked for a solid hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Juurensha.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has missed Mister Bushido with his Shin'you attack.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has counter attacked for a minor hit on Axel Almer's Soulgain using Howard.

"Rei, behind you!"

Rei Ayanami stops pointing a gun in the vague direction of Yazan Gable, finger /this/ close to pulling the trigger, when Shiro's voice cuts through the throbbing hum of her LCL-filled plug. It never used to hum. Maybe it's because her mind suddenly flicks to that musing that she doesn't dodge in time, swerving the Eva just enough to take the punch right in the blue-plated ribs and stagger backward, smashing into a building and blowing Objective 1 on that earlier list completely.

Rubble spills toward the ground as the Evangelion pushes itself out of the building and takes a staggered step forward. "Tuh-Tuh-Target locked," Rei stammers excitedly -- as 'excitedly' as Rei Ayanami gets -- to Shiro down below, and raises the Pellet Pistol, firing a single shot. A single shot that happens to be a giant goddamn bullet.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Evil Coop. Pellet Pistol added to their queue.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rio Mei Long transmits, "Does anyone need some help?"

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has struck a major hit on Marcus Gunter's AS7-D Atlas using Ultra Mega Mega Launcher - Rapid Fire.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Hellion-V Medium Laser counter attack.

HEY! HO! LET'S GO!

This MIGHTY FIST is fired forward, slamming a few of the remaining lions into the asphault as best as Excellen is able without completely wrecking every inch of scenery. This is, by the way, far harder than it looks -- but the blonde pilot doesn't particularly wish to cause more strife to Chibodee's home town than absolutely necessary. It's quite possibly a fruitless endeavour, but she suspects he'd appreciate her trying at least.

The sensor banks for the Type-0 aren't quite as powerful as the Weissritter's, but they are more than adequate for obtaining the IFFs she needs to know. It does seem a little strange that they'd persue the EvilNinjaClawBot with such killing intent, but then again, appearances can be deceiving.

Such as the apparent return of someone to the land of the living, if radio communications are meant to be believed.

For a moment, the wind is quite literally ripped from her sails. Hands seize up as her ears process what she's just been told. Words that contradict what she was there for, for what she saw with her own eyes.

She watched as her friend's machine was ripped apart as it exploded from the inside out, leaving barely enough cockpit left to be salvaged and less still of its pilot. Killed by the Shadow Mirrors. ..she can't allow herself to believe it. The possibility of Crusader treachery, especially when so heavily mixed with their Shadow Mirror allies, is simply much too great.

The stoic looking machine finally begins to move, ponderous gait closing in not on Zweizergain and company, nor tossing a glance at Almer - but to lend aid to her partner. (And her machine. Her poor, abused Weissy.) She remembers fighting the Randgrith before, remembers the power behind its many miriad of missiles. The great machine's right fist clenches, before being lifted, aimed and fired at Echidna's unit from the left flank.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Boost Knuckle added to their queue.

Meiya's blade stabs into Valefar's shoulder, more of its bizarre blood pouring forth, but Fernando doesn't seem bothered; quite the contrary, his fist closes around the blade, dragging himself closer along it until he actually reaches the Takemikazuchi; Valefar's anger and his own resonate as Fernando snaps out with a flurry of blows, each stabbing finger with the force of a machinegun bullet. Fernando slams himself backwards off the ground, leaving a gaping wound in Valefar's shoulder as Fernando springboards over the Takemikazuchi - nimble, for a monster of its size.

"It was an enticing agreement!" Fernando replies as his fist charges with power. "I'll give you my thanks through this! KISHIN KEN!"

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!"

The Valefar's fist snaps out for the Takemikazuchi's joints, moving to inflict it with the power of Fernando's soul - just long enough to leave it paralyzed for the onslaught of blows behind the strike, each fist aiming to lift the Takemikazuchi a little higher before the finishing blow to knock it across the battlefield.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has attacked Meiya Mitsurugi. Kishin Ken added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has missed Evil Coop with his Covering Fire attack.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has counter attacked for a minor hit on Shiro Amada's Gundam Ez8 using Arm Cannon.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck Evil Coop with a solid hit using Pellet Pistol.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Rei Ayanami with his Arm Cannon counter attack.

The Wing Gust isn't about to stop after firing off its lasers. Bullet's fully intent on taking the aggressive approach, to take care of this obstacle quickly so he can move on.

It doesn't quite work out that way. A quick swerve avoids the first energy blast, but the subsequent ones strike the Wing Gust. What's worse, its own approach misses the mark entirely, the pilot misjudging the weird blob's movements. "Ugh! That... could've gone better."

In response, rather than chase after the Dominator again, he pulls back the controls, sending his machine straight up into the air. "Yeah? Well come and get me!" The taunt would seem to be all that Cynthia gets in responds.

Until the machine suddenly comes crashing down, newly visible feet first, the Grungust having assumed humanoid shape in the air. The momentum is sure to be painful if one happens to be below it at the time. Hit or miss, the Grungust goes on to leave a small crater upon impact with the ground, the massive super robot rising from its crouched position up to its full height of nearly 160 feet. Time to get serious!

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has struck a major critical hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Kishin Ken.

"Oh really?" Simon says, looking down to Lamia, and then back towards Kamina who brings up a salient point. They might start BREEDING. "Does that mean those two machines can combine too?" It's a good question, if they combine they may be unstoppable unless they somehow combine with four machines! But Simon thinks, well, you can really only combine with two machines. He's not sure exactly how you'd combine with more. The Lagann doesn't seem to work with more than one--LITTLE DOES HE KNOW.

"What do you think we can do?" Simon asks, allowing Lamia to handle defense--she's better at it, really, than Simon is. "Do you have a plan, bro?"

The Zweizergain is charging in again, aiming for a blow towards the machine--as Lamia handles defense, Simon prepares a counterattack--unleashing a drilled fist for the side of the Zweizergain's head!

"It doesn't matter what she was BUILT to do!" He shouts predictably. "If she was just your machine she wouldn't be apologizing!"

COMBAT: Simon has attacked Vindel Mauser. Drill Punch added to their queue.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has attacked Cynthia Lane. Grungust Love added to their queue.

COMBAT: Simon has missed Vindel Mauser with his Drill Punch attack.

"Ineffective?" Vindel asks, his voice low. "What would you know about 'effectiveness', machine?" he demands. Blade's clash as the two super robots slam together for a moment, sword sparking off against sword as the two struggle to land a serious blow. The two blades finally slip past each other, the Vysaga carving a gash into the side of the Zweizergain, and Vindel spins away, Simon's chasing drill punch coming up short of the retreating super robot. "We have seen what peace brings to people! What you call 'torment' we refer to as 'experience'! The W-Series was not denied knowledge of our goals and motives! This 'torment' is the medicine humanity needs!" There is a ripple of energy, and suddenly six Zweizergains appear next to the original, each of them holding up one hand. "Look at what has come of this world! One of the most brutal wars that we have seen to date, and it has made them much stronger! Britannia had not achieved anything close to what these people have! Colonization of space! Weapons of destruction far exceeding most technology we have encountered! This world does not need peace! It needs to struggle! To grow stronger, and exceed anything that challenges them! Look at the boy who assists you, who has fought through unending battle against the Spiral King! His strength, his ability to care for his comrades, all that is born through true adversity!" All seven Zweizergains' hands flash of energy, energy crackling as they prepare to unleash a shower of energy blasts raining down on the Vysagann. "JAAAAARRRYURIN!"

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has attacked Simon and Lamia Loveless. Jaryurin Scatter added to their queue.

"I will not allow you to," Mister Bushido says, firmly. He might be troubled, he's definitely distracted... But he still knows that he cannot allow the Divine Crusaders to do what they want. That he has to tear them apart, rend them limb from limb, leave no part connected to another, to avenge the loss of... His teeth grit again, and he leans forward on the reclining Flag-type cockpit seat, recovering from the strikes to knock his machine back and lunging into Axel Almer's Shin'you technique. The whirling legs are, no doubt, dangerous. So Mister Bushido just drives the smaller beam katana into one of them, with unerring precision, as soon as it comes close enough, the Masurao itself pushing upwards, driving the blade in down further before wrenching it out. A dark sense of satisfaction creeps through the masked ace's heart. This is a strong opponent, yes. But still... "I am not sure if I believe any of this," Bushido says, tone still dangerously calm and quiet. But it's slowly thawing out, the usual heat growing in his voice. "Perhaps it is simply a trick, some gambit of your honourless leadership. But... BUT--!" His green eyes widen, pupils contracting. "If her claims are right, and this is in truth Lamia Loveless, then..." The Masurao's larger blade swings down, blade reversed aiming in a scything stab for the center of the Soulgain's torso. "THEN I, GRAHAM AKER, WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO GET ANOTHER INCH CLOSER!!"

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has attacked Axel Almer. Darryl added to their queue.

Ken Marinaris sees how chaotic the fight's getting anf an armored core is reading EFA. That's enough for her, there's no time to wast she swoops at Archangel and opens fire sening a stream of laser fire at him. She hangs on to the control pommels as she does a barrel roll and calls over the radiol.

"Out of the way Raven! We're hear to clean up our own mess!"

Ken Marinaris activates her Ardjet unit.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has attacked Archangel. Homing Lasers added to their queue.

Explosions ripple off the frame of the Atlas as Johnny starts to use his superior mobility to his advantage, but the Atlas just keeps on coming. shrugging off blows that would cripple a regular mobile suit, "Cheeky little bastard, isn't he?" The Hellion-V lights up again, scorching through the side of a building just meters to the Zaku's left. Of course, Marcus is a veteran at city fighting, so even with his machine's slower speed, he manages to conphensate... as is evident when johnny comes around the corner only to find the Atlas is no longer there. There's just so many side streets in the city and he could have easily disappeared into one of them. and then inexplicable, the Atlas is /right behind him/, weilding a giant steel girder taken from a construction site like a big metal club that he all too gleefully brings down on it's head.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Get Club added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has struck a major hit on Archangel's Gabriel using Homing Lasers.

COMBAT: Archangel has missed Ken Marinaris with his WG-AR1000 counter attack.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has struck a glancing hit on Simon's VR-02L Vysagann using Jaryurin Scatter.

COMBAT: Simon has missed Vindel Mauser with his Fast Draw counter attack.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Get Club attack.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has missed Cynthia Lane with his Grungust Love attack.

The thrusters of the Xeku Zwei can provide some impressive, elongated and fine-tuneable leaps, but it is no more capable of flying than any other Minovsky-based mobile suit. The tremendous machine, therefor, is already descending as the Gurren leaps right at it; verniers expand out of their hiding places, short bursts of rocket propellant suddenly sending the Xeku /spinning/ to the side and just out of the side of that punch. Who does he think Kamina is?

Yazan's laugh, just as anticipated, is at the /least/ nothing short of derogatory. "I think you're some dumbass schmuck I'm gonna completely forget about ten minutes after I'm done KILLING YOU!"

The shades are ripped free, and the sheer bizarreness of the attack is enough to throw Gable off-track for the briefest of moments; it is an opening that the Gurren eagerly exploits as those sunglasses CRASH into the chest of the Xeku Zwei, crushing armor inward with a sudden expulsion of sparkes and metal; wiring is exposed here and there... but the Zwei is nothing if not durable.

"Tch. Annoying little shits," Gable mutters to himself as the Xeku bashes those sunglasses away with one of its many limbs. The topmost arms, still holding their beam sabers, swivel downward--

--/just/ in time for Yazan to notice the blade from the Vysagann suddenly EXTENDING, /straight/ for him. "Ghh--?!" The Zwei's top right sub-arm sweeps forward as that blade CLASHES with the burning edge of its beam saber; the two forces strain dangerously against one another, particle energy crackling and sparking across the glowing edge of the Vysaga's blade. Doesn't deserve their torment?

"What the hell're you talkin' about?" Yazan wonders, thoughtfully, as the skirt armor of the Zwei pops open with a hiss, revealing countless rows of missiles.

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT MAKES IT SO GREAT, YOU DUMB BITCH!"

Missiles all launch off, one after another, in a massive volley that spiral out chaotically in all directions; Yazan, very pointedly, does not care what collaterally damage they accrue -- so long as they make sure to punish Lamia and Kamina as violently as possible.

"HAHAHA! GOD I LOVE MY JOB!"

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Lamia Loveless and Kamina. Missile Sweep added to their queue.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Lamia Loveless with his Jaryurin Scatter attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has counter attacked for a minor hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Drill Slam.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has struck a solid hit on Kamina's Gurren using Missile Sweep.

Archangel reconized that voice, he also reconized that frame, "..round two I guess.." he muses. He replies with the laser fire, by sliding to a stop and opening fire with his machine gun. The AC gets implaed a few places from the Laser fire, but still stands function as the head unit tracks where that Orbital frame goes. <<"Been awhile and what mess is that?">> Archangel replies with a grin, before the missile pod activates and he fires a few scatter missiles right for the Ardjet.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has missed Lamia Loveless with his Missile Sweep attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has missed Yazan Gable with her Drilling Blazer Blade counter attack.

COMBAT: Archangel has attacked Ken Marinaris. WM-X201 Missiles added to their queue.

COMBAT: Archangel has missed Ken Marinaris with his WM-X201 Missiles attack.

Despite her lack of care when acquiring her target, Echidna's shots slam home onto their target. By the time Kyosuke sees them (distracted, perhaps somewhat, by the sight of the Soulgain battling nearby, and by the precious drill robot doing the same below) it is already too late. The White Knight is rocked, smoke billowing from the two new craters in its thin armor, far thinner than Kyosuke is used to. Still, he is determined. If there's even a chance that Lamia really is OK after all... Brow furrowed in determination, Kyosuke calls to Excellen over the radio once she backs him up. "I'll try to pressure it, just look for an opening." The Weisritter then attempts to do just that, swooping in with pink saber held in hand, rushing back and forth rapidly as it attempts to deliver a series of strikes to the Randgrith's frame, more plentiful than heavy or deep.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Plasma Cutter added to their queue.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has struck a glancing hit on Echidna Iisaki's RGV-30 Randgrith using Boost Knuckle.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has missed Excellen Browning with her Matrix Missile counter attack.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has struck a solid hit on Echidna Iisaki's RGV-30 Randgrith using Plasma Cutter.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has struck a devastating critical hit on Axel Almer's Soulgain using Darryl.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has missed Mister Bushido with his Double Genbu Goudan counter attack.

Kamina says, "Simon...There comes a time in every man's life where he combines with a another robot. This combination leads to the birth of new powers and strength. This bond can only be strengthend by the people involve with this bond. Right now Simon, you are combined with someone who needs that strength. Right now you are in a two-way combine....What we need is to up those odds in order to give birth to more powers! MORE STRENGTH. SIMON! It's time we show this world something that every man has longed for! The phrase on every man's lips. The idea that will make most men stand at attention and scream, 'YES! GIVE ME A PIECE OF THAT!' SIMON! LAMIA! It's time for....A 3-WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!"

As Kamina finishes the sky erupts as Yazan's missiles crash down, providing a much needed special effect and tearing off several plates of the Gurren's armor. The red Gunmen looks like a piece of trash now, almost silver instead of red. Still it moves, as if mocking Yazan. The Gurren raises it's fist toward the sky as it races toward Simon and Lamia, yelling as he charges to dart under the pair and hoist them onto his shoulders. "MECHASHIVA! GIVE THEM THE POWER OF HEAVEN AND THE FURY OF HELL!!!" More explosions."

COMBAT: Kamina has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kamina has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

Coop Cooplowski shoots at one enemy and gets more for his troubles. It's the story of his life, really, and the novelty of fighting only two opponents is something to be relished. The fact that they're still so small is a bit of an annoyance, however. "Hey, kids," the big blonde says in his rumbling baritone, opening fire on both of them with arm-mounted energy weapons as he keeps his robot running forward. "How y'all doin' tonight? Good? Good." Projectiles slam into the Black Thirteen's chest armour, scarring and denting it in a few places. But the explosions hardly seem to slow the giant machine, which keeps moving forward in that surprising way that lava does.

Or perhaps a tsunami.

"Now, you're out here trying to protect this place, and I get that," Coop says as the right fist returns to the Black Thirteen's forearm. "I really do. Did a mite of it myself. But we aren't here to wreck the joint this time," he says as the black titan lowers its shoulder and charges forward, thrusters blazing as it accelerates. "We're just here to take care of some personal business. So why don't you do yourselves a favour?" Coop asks, the ebon titan spinning in mid air, lashing out at the Ez8 with a leg nearly as big as the Gundam. "Go home. We look after our own. /No matter what./"

COMBAT: Evil Coop has attacked Shiro Amada. Black Thirteen Kick added to their queue.

Ken Marinaris says "You again?! I guess it is! The pilot of that machine's gone insane and needs to be put down!" She's not questioning vindel it seems then again insane pilot + powerful mech is enough to make most BAHRAM runners who know thet ruth about Demios go for blood. they know what happens when powerful machine's pilot goes mad.

"So move it Raven this job ain't worth dying over!"

She evades the incomming attack and several WISPs break off her machine swirl about and her. Then fire right at the founder of the Nest.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has attacked Archangel. WISP Strike added to their queue.

"My brain is superior to yours," Lamia answers Vindel, impertinently. "I understand them... they have acted with greater virtue than your force. Look at who you have embraced...!"

A shower of blazing drill-blades are thrown from Vysaga's free hand, almost contemptuously, towards the incoming Yazan Gable missile fiesta. Fewer than the missiles, but once several of them are touched off, fratricidal explosions rattle and shatter windows, shudder buildings, but not the Vysaga - nor its new, replacement head!

The drill-like blade is brought up, twisting around in a series of flurrying, precise motions, the blade shimmering further at each strike of the Zweizergain's barrage; one or two of the blasts, in fact, reflected back, perhaps enough to nick it. Lamia would sweat if she did so readily, but -

The radio comments. She doesn't hear much, but there is skepticism. Flatness. Even Graham is not sure...

She speaks, even as she steers around Vysaga's blade. "Simon. It is possible that this is a trick... that the organization has chosen to play some deep game. I am not sure I was who you knew - I can only assume my memories were salvaged."

The barrage fades; Lamia steers Vysaga back half a pace. "The information in them - whatever knowledge I intended to pass on to the Federation... all of it may be a trick, or a lie. I... I don't know--" Even Kamina's words, inspiring as they are, make her eyes crinkle.

"I could only be luring you all to destruction--" Even as Vysaga is hoist up onto the Gurren's shoulders, Lamia's kept inspired enough to not /simper/. But the flurry of shimmering igniting shards of metal sent towards the Zweizergain's probable face is a shadow of what Vysaga may be capable of.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Vindel Mauser. Drilling Blazer Blade added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has missed Archangel with her WISP Strike attack.

Johnny Ridden is a veteran at a lot of things, but city fighting is not one of them; in fact, he never once sortied on Earth during the One Year War. Marcus, without a doubt, has the advantage of experience in this environment.

The Zaku III cuts its verniers and grinds to a halt, its feet digging trenches in the pavement. Its empty left hand settles on its waist, and it slowly turns back and forth, its monoeye scanning the streets around it.

Marcus may have the advantage of experience, but the Crimson Lightning has... certain other advantages.

A brilliant point of ethereal light sparks in Johnny's mind, and the Zaku III whirls to face Marcus an instant before the surprisingly stealthy Battlemech raises its girder-club. It wrenches a beam emitter out of its waist, and a yellow beam blade flares out of it as the club slams downwards.

The Zaku leans to the side, and the beam saber snaps upwards, scything through the girder in the Atlas's hands like it wasn't even there. The thing splits neatly in two, its edges red hot, and without so much as a monets' pause the Zaku III is suddenly dashing backwards again, its verniers roaring to life.

The beam blade winks out of existence, and all of a sudden a pair of beam blasts lance out of the emitter towards the Atlas; a heartbeat later, it swings around a corner and vanishes from sight down another street.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has attacked Marcus Gunter. Waist Beam Gun added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has struck a glancing hit on Marcus Gunter's AS7-D Atlas using Waist Beam Gun.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Girder Chuck counter attack.

"What the--" Axel says, eyes going wide, as Darryl is plunged into the midsection of the Soulgain. It rips out the back; blue bioelectricity explodes up and down the torso of the machine, crackling down the length of it. He stares and brings both arms over the head of the Masurao -- and the two arm blades manage to barely miss it.

The scissor blow clips across the top of its head.

"That's some determination... but that's not everything," Axel counters. "She's a traitor--AND I'M JUST AS DETERMINED TO GET TO HER!"

Almer watches, on the 360 degree cockpit of the Soulgain, as energy meters begin to deplete. The hands flash with blue energy, and slam out before the blade can be pulled free. The hands burst to life with energy and slam forward, fists striking rapidly. They turn into a blur of blue fire -- and then, at the end of it, a single massive column of blue light fires away explosively.

"MAI SUZAKU!"

COMBAT: Axel Almer has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has attacked Mister Bushido. Mai Suzaku added to their queue.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Shiro Amada with his Black Thirteen Kick attack.

Gabriel's thrusters moved him out of harm as he spun around going backwards keeping a lock on that Frame. He knew that Ken's unit was about as fast has Wildcat, so it gave him a general idea of how to handle her, but man, did that thing bite. He hadn't forgotten that either from his first encounter with a frame. <<"Hey, I got a mission and I hate to say it, but removing a few of you DCers, even if it means try, is my job. You know how it goes, nothing personal.">> Har, nothing personal yeah right.

Archangel hits a few keys and then narrows his eyes, "Computer.."

Gabriel speeds toward the Orbital frame and leaps into the air, the energy sword becomes active and he goes to try and slash the frame in the air. Also takes the chance to get a scan of her frame while he is at it.

COMBAT: Archangel has activated a spirit command.

Echidna Iisaki keeps surreptiously picking up radio conversation between Vindel, Lamia, Yazan - basically anyone she can spy on. And she listens. What Vindel says makes sense to her. What Lamia says, less so.

It is not that distraction that stops her from responding quickly, either. Multitasking is not that hard. What /is/ hard is to continue to fight with damaged thrusters; Echidna cannot swerve aside from the incoming rocket fist, though she manages to let loose one of those colossal split missiles in return.

She attempts to simply catch the Weissritter with her machine's free hand and succeeds only in making some of the later blows go off-target, barely scraping the frame rather than digging in. She finds herself frustrated and elects to try her new weapon.

"Get out of the way," Echidna's voice sounds, on Kyosuke's radio. That is all the warning he has before she swings that collapsible pole she pulled out around, trying to drive the beam-emitter end into the White Knight's side before activating the beam spike, long enough to go in one side and out the other.

COMBAT: Archangel has attacked Ken Marinaris. LS-93 Moonlight Slash added to their queue.

The beams that come from the Wing Gust in response don't quite get the ball - as it spreads out, thinning and spiralling to one side, "Hahah, oh this'll be good." The pink haired child within makes a note of it - just in case Brooklyn had forgotten. Really - she'll be too busy to say much of that later though.

"Come and ... get you?" Cynthia asks - and the Dominator, humanoid, floats in the air for a moment - until the machine crashes down, assuming a humanoid shape and... oh, better not be under it! "Woah!" The Overman twists, body wrenching out of the way, letting the machine crash to the ground - allowing the rather impressive pose and size do the Grungust justice!

"Hmmm. That /is/ pretty big." Cynthia goes on to agree. "There's no way I'll win that size." Hopeless. "OVERSKILL!"

The Dominator begins to shudder and shake, the red and yellow spreading out, swelling, growing - the small humanoid becomes far larger, matching the size of the Grugunst - but not quite the specifications. "So.. how about now?" The goo like machine holds out both hands - a swelling of energy growing, before they are pressed together - and morph into a rather large energy cannon.

Beams, unexpectedly, come straight from the newly formed barrels.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has attacked Brooklyn Luckfield. Energy Assault added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Kyosuke Nanbu. Beam Partisan added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has missed Kyosuke Nanbu with her Beam Partisan attack.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has struck a solid hit on Brooklyn Luckfield's Grungust using Energy Assault.

Fernando's fighting style is simalar to Folka's, yes, but Fernando himself is different, that was the mistake Meiya made. Fernando is faster, even more nimble. The Type-00R turns around, only just in time to be taken full on by Fernando's barrage of blows, lifted into the air with each one further and further. The only thing Meiya can do is brace herself against the shuddering in the cockpit as it rings like a bell

The front armor of the Takemikazuchi is reduced to something that only once apon a time looked like a war machine. Dents and great tears run through the armor, slowly exposing the internal frame of the machine, the power of Fernando's soul having frozen it in place. But to Meiya, the Takemikazuchui is her sword, and a samurai's sword is her soul.

The final blow comes in, aiming to collapse the chest and finish the fight, but it fails to connect. The Takemikazuchi's head lifts up, the thin monoeye slot glowing a deep royal purple. It's free hand tightly clenched around Valefar's wrist. It throws Valefar's arm to the side and reaches up for it's second PB Blade.

With both weapons brandish, Meiya launches into series of rapid attacks. The blades scyth down, singing as they cut through the air, but each stroke is smooth, not forced. Quick, but not halting. Each blade held only by two fingers of the machine's hands, allowing it to follow through with each swing to come back again for another attack from another angel. It would be beautiful and elegant.

If it didn't also count as a face full of murder.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has missed Mister Bushido with his Mai Suzaku attack.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has missed Axel Almer with his Flag Martial Arts counter attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a solid hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Drilling Blazer Blade.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has attacked Fernando Albark. PB Blade Mastery added to their queue.

Marcus grunts as his improvised weapon is sliced in half, then wheels his atlas around and throws what's left of the club at Johnny as he retreats. One of the beam blasts catches the girder in mid flight, wasting it's energy on consuming the innocent piece of debris. The second glances off the Atlas' shoulder, "Ooooh... so you want to play cat and mouse some more. I'm game..." Marcus smirks a bit as he throttles up the 100 ton machine... but he doesn't chase in pursuit. Instead, he decides that the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line. It just so happens that there's a parking garage in the way. That poor, poor parking garage. there is a rumbling sound as Marcus pushes his machine forward, then /explodes/ out of the back of the garage, it's arms outstretched to try and grab Johnny and his Zaku, then pull the both of them back into the ruined building for what would be the mech scaled equivilant of a Curbstomping.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Atlas Horror Stories added to their queue.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has struck a devastating hit on Fernando Albark's Valefar using PB Blade Mastery.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has counter attacked for a major hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Kishin So Shogeki.

These people think war is a way to be strong, and safe. And yet, of course, Simon has heard the opposite. Lord Genome says that the path to strength is dangerous to humanity. If both of these ideologies are even partially right, then neither can be entirely right. Vindel's energy blasts glance of the Vysaga, but Simon's offense is too slow to connect with Vindel's machine, thanks to the leader's superior skill.

"What are you talking about?" Simon asks of Vindel, "Humans can't survive with power, I hear that a lot from people who nearly kill me all the time! And we can't live with peace either?! Both of those might be true, in fact maybe humanity is doomed--but to hell with that! If we live our lives well then it won't matter if the next alien race destroys us all--we can never anticipate every doomsday scenario! Saying whether peace or war is the path to a strong or safe humanity isn't the right question!"

He looks down to Lamia (and Boota). "That's impossible," Simon says, as Kamina hefts up the machine and sets it down. "Vindel said it himself, he doesn't know what made you change your mind to begin with, so how could he make you betray us again? And even if he did--the part of you that made your decision before will make it again. Because the part of you that's our friend, the part of you that's you, they can't touch that!"

He thrusts the Gurren Vysaga Lagann's hands into the air, pointing to the heavens.

"If you're feeling uncertain--then bro always tells me--to believe in him who believes in me--so you can believe, right Lamia? In the friends that believe in you?"

"And if it's dangerous..." The arm EXPLODES into drill form, spiral power rippling across the newly formed weapon.

"Then we'll face it head on!"

The drill strikes forward, aiming for the Zweizergain!

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has attacked Vindel Mauser. Gust Driller added to their queue.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has struck a major critical hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Gust Driller.

COMBAT: Archangel has struck a major critical hit on Ken Marinaris's Ardjet using LS-93 Moonlight Slash.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has activated a spirit command.

The Ez8 might be small, but it's quick. Black Thirteen isn't quite that fast, but it has power. Shiro doesn't want to get smashed and splattered all over the pavement.

The choice of reaction to this sort of thing is pretty easy to make, truth be told.

The modified Ground Gundam jumps backwards, tucking it's legs up under it and letting the big kick hit the ground and a little booth for a parking lot nearby instead. It lands and skids, but regains it's footing easily, raising the machine gun again.

Shiro scowls at the big man. The black-haired young man replies with an easy, "Neither do we," and mutes outgoing transmissions to the titanic machine. "Rei," he asks, "you okay over there?" Shiro doesn't seem to be /too/ bothered by the fact that he's got a thing that is so many times bigger than him coming at him; he's more concerned with the pilot of the altogether weird machine he's working with.

Shiro skirts around a building, disappearing out of sight of Black Thirteen for just a moment. He comes up around the other side of the big mech, firing his thrusters and getting airborne with a high jump. He draws and ignites a pair of beam sabers, swinging them at the side and back of one of the knee joints to try and cripple the big machine while he's in such close quarters and maybe prevent it from coming down on him again.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has attacked Evil Coop. Dual Beam Sabers added to their queue.

Do some damage while he keeps her under pressure. Hah! A role reversal if there ever was. "Understood!" confirms the blonde as the rocketing fist makes a returning arc back to her position, and the great machine boosts forward with all thrusters at full power, allowing for the rain of missiles to sail straight past and decorate the city in her wake.

"Hey, you! Over here!" She's not entirely certain what it is that strange unit has planned for her partner and her machine, but Excellen has little intent of allowing it to continue! The Grungust bears down on its opponent with a grim expression that does not remotely match its current pilot's voice, before it skits to an abrupt halt. And uses the built momentum to fire one, then TWO, both massive metal fists, at Echidna's machine.

KNOCK KNOCK

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Double Boost Knuckle added to their queue.

The missiles explode repeatedly; and while they only pepper the Gurren and are completely abated by the LEGENDARY VYSAGANN, Yazan Gable hardly seems disheartened or hindered.

"Hahahaha!"

He's just enjoying the absolute mayhem of the situation far too much.

That is, until instead of attacking the Gurren... moves /away. The Xeku, now holding its heavy beam smartgun in both of its main hands, is left to watch as the Gurren leaps backward... and hoists the Vysagann onto its shoulders.

"... What," is about all Yazan has to say as he lifts up the massive beam smartgun. Sensory radome switches about, swerving in to pinpoint its targets -- the Gurren's knees.

"Fuckin' idiots."

The trigger is pulled, and a pulse of bright pinkish-red /scorches/ free from the barrel of the gun. It sweeps in, seeming to be aimed too wide -- before the beam literally /curves/, aiming to /crash/ through the Gurren's knees... and send the entire, FEARSOME form of the MECHASHIVA crashing down on top of it.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Kamina. Beam Smartgun added to their queue.

"I refuse." Kyosuke's response comes quick and simple. The Weisritter, too, acts simply, as he puts the proverbial pedal down in order to drive straight through the impaling, and lay a powerful pounding down on the Randgrith. It doesn't work out like that, as the Weisritter instead surges off in a tangental direction, straight through a great deal of nothing. It whirls about abruptly, coming around in a tight turn and hovering for a moment, watching the Lazengann battle. It's holding its own; that's reassuring, if nothing else. And then, once the Randgrith has not one but two BOOST KNUCKURUS to contend with, Kyosuke rushes back in, pushing the Weisritter as hard as he can to close the distance once more. It takes an alarmingly short amount of time, so quick that the only reaction he can manage is to hold the Oxtongue Rifle ahead of himself like a shield, to ram full-force into Echidna's machine.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Excellen Is Literally Going To Murder Me For This added to their queue.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has missed Echidna Iisaki with her Double Boost Knuckle attack.

"A traitor?" the pilot of the GNX-U02X Masurao repeats, his tone surprised. "A traitor?! Having seen the way the so-called 'Crusaders' treat their own... I cannot blame her for turning on everything you stand for." Treachery is bad, sure, but not when you're betraying, like... Guys who blow you up. That's his feelings on the matter. Green eyes narrow, now, through the eyeholes of the half-mask he wears, the mask that locks into the front of his flight helmet, but he keeps leaning forward in his seat, as if resisting the g-forces exerted on the machine even through the inertial dampeners. As the Soulgain's blazing fists strike repeatedly, the Masurao weaves and jukes, sweeping one spindly leg around in a kick intended to force the Soulgain back; combined with the mobile suit's own movements, it's certainly enough to keep them apart, but the kick doesn't land, either. The masked ace suddenly wrenches forward on the throttle control, and the GNX-U02X rushes forward at the Soulgain, briefly stowing the smaller beam blade to grasp Darryl with both hands, holding it in a high horizontal guard position, point levelled at the Soulgain. "Whatever game you and your kind are playing here, Crusader... I will get to the bottom of it! And if this is a trick, then I swear... I /swear/ by the memory of my fallen comrades, that I will destroy all of you! But if this is truly her, then I will--" and this is a word he hasn't said in a long time: "--PROTECT--" the Masurao whirls as it gets closer to the Soulgain, Darryl tracing a fading orange circle in the sky as the masked A-LAWS ace tries to outright cut Almer's machine in half, diagonally. "--Her!!"

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has struck a major hit on Kamina's Gurren using Beam Smartgun.

COMBAT: Kamina has counter attacked for a minor hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using My Shades Are My Blade!.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has attacked Axel Almer. Way of the Samurai added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has missed Echidna Iisaki with his Excellen Is Literally Going To Murder Me For This attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has missed Kyosuke Nanbu with her Ultimate Body-Check counter attack.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has missed Evil Coop with his Dual Beam Sabers attack.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Shiro Amada with his Mixed Martial Arts counter attack.

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has missed Axel Almer with his Way of the Samurai attack.

"You are not one to judge - don't assume that you are a match for me, even in this combined state." Vindel's reply is rather cold, as Lamia's disrespect simply goes to show that she is something damaged beyond all repair. "Virtue is simply something that asks for your own destruction! It does not produce victory! Ask how many of the people you were created to serve how much help 'virtue' was to them!" Two powerful attacks - each of them with the flavor of one of those two behind it. It was impossible to say which one originated which, both both were powerful. The flaming blade slashes across the chest of the Zweizergain, followed by the drill slammed into the crossed arms of the machine. But despite the beating that he takes, Vindel remains standing - even this is not an attack that is going to do him in. Not yet. "Then your ignorance simply dooms all of those around you," Vindel shouts back at Simon, tossing the Vysagann away for a moment. "Ask people around you if they care if they live or die tomorrow! Ask them how many would be willing to struggle to reach for one more day of freedom, of life! And how many would rather accept that the end was coming, and allow the inevitable to engulf them? We will not go quietly into the night, and every world we visit has shown as that humanity is the same everywhere!" The Zweizergain snaps its sword to the side, the blade flashing in the sun. And with the next motion, the mech explodes outwards in all directions - a dozen different copies leaping out in all directions. Each one dives in, slashing at the Vysagann - and then the spin around, diving back in, attempting to impale the machine from every direction. And as that attack ends, the original Zweizergain levels it's sword... and charges, blade snapping across to cleave straight though the entire mass... hopefully sending the swords and Vysagann flying in all different directions.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has attacked Lamia Loveless and Simon. Black Blade of Disaster added to their queue.

Rei Ayanami's GN Evangelion is surprisingly nimble for what amounts to a gigantic zombie farting sparkles. It sweeps itself out of the way of the energy bolts fired by the Black Thirteen, letting the landscape soak up the damage instead, causing more urban architectural implosion. Shiro's concern is noted, because Rei at least takes the time to respond: "Attackingtarget!", yelping it as if it were all one syllable.

Jettisoning half of the Pellet Pistol and letting it drop the ground like a meteor (it embeds itself into the scenery like someone pushing their finger into a cake), Rei slams some further attachments onto the base firing mechanism. Pellet Pistol becomes Pellet Rifle. Clip goes in. Cocked. Ready to fire.

And so Rei fires, spraying enormous bullets liberally, even as Shiro goes in for the kill.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Evil Coop. Pellet Rifle added to their queue.

For a second, Bullet believes that his opponent might back off, after hearing what she's saying about the Grungust's size. He can be gullible like that. But the moment doesn't last long, when Cynthia makes her monster grow.

"Wha-- no way!" He barely has time to cross the Grungust's arms in front of itself, which by itself may not have done much, but there's something else when the beams strike their mark: a tell-tale ripple in the air, a barrier of some sort. Upon observing the TK Field is holding, he quickly mirrors the Dominator's earlier stance, the Grungust holding out both hands in front.

"That's some pretty good tricks your..." ...machine? Is it even one? "...unit can pull, little miss. But don't count me out yet!" The Grungust may not be able to morph its hands into an energy cannon, but it does obey the first rule of Super Robots: When all else fails, Rocket Punch. And since he has both hands out anyway, he might as well follow the second rule of Super Robots as well: Two Rocket Punches are better than one.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has attacked Cynthia Lane. Double Boost Knuckle added to their queue.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck Evil Coop with a solid hit using Pellet Rifle.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has counter attacked Rei Ayanami for a minor hit using Blazing Sword!

Each cut forces a spray of damage; each lash of the blade provokes blood-oil spouts from the wounds as they dig into the Valefar's body, and Fernando and Valefar each roar in defiance as they scythe through his body, the sound echoing across New York. Valefar blazes with the blue ki of Fernando's soul as the two resonate oncce more, fury and pain combined to bind the two together - though not enough to unlock the Truth, it is enough to give them a burst of strength as they fall backwards, twin fists snapping forth to unleash twin roaring dragons. "KISHIN SO SHOGEKI!" Fernando roars as the dragons burrow into Meiya's machine, "EEEEERRUUUUPT!" There's an explosion of smoke and flame as Fernando falls to his knees, coughing up blood - blood hungrily devoured by the greedy god. With a smirk, he stannds, wavering just a bit as he adopts his stance.

"Meiya," Fernando says slowly, "You call me your friend. This is what Shura friendship is." He closes his fist, drawing yet more blood with the wound in his hand. "Let me thank you with the ultimate attack! KISHIN KEN NO OUGI!"

Valefar begins walking as Fernando's arms complete the motions, and immediately, Valefar's resonation changes - no longer is it walking through Manhattan. The mindscape it exudes has replaced the city, at least in the mind's eye of Fernando (and probably Meiya); it strides through the desert, the ruins of a once-beautiful world. And then, as the blue fire peaks, it attacks.

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!"

It is on Meiya in an instant, a flurry of blows falling like rain, each blow more intense than the last. It is an exponential increase in destructive force timed to the shouted kiai of its performer, until both yell and attack reach crescendo, and even the missed blows are like bombs; finally, it snaps out a single, final punch, and the whole mindscape goes black.

From that darkness they emerge - in whatever language its target and Fernando mutually speak - the sigils of the words that may once have been spoken by the god Valefar once was, that once may have been used to subjugate it in this subconscious terror the gods once may have resided in. And Fernando roars out the name of terror as his foot snaps forward, delivering the finishing, brutal kick...

"KISHIIIIIN GOOOOGEKIIIII KEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!"

Fernando lands on one of the smaller buildings, dropping to his knees once more.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has attacked Meiya Mitsurugi. Kishin Gogeki Ken added to their queue.

COMBAT: Meiya Mitsurugi has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has struck a glancing hit on Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi using Kishin Gogeki Ken.

COMBAT: Knock Out! Meiya Mitsurugi's Type-00R Takemikazuchi unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Lamia Loveless with his Black Blade of Disaster attack.

Ken Marinaris isn't quick enough this time to avoid the incomming attacks. Still the machines a bit faster than Wildcat's yet? It's much more massive than any AC unit ever is. It's also constanly flying. "Oh well your funeral if you want to die for money so be it! I got a job and a /duty/ to do." The martian woman cuts the channel. The damage doesn't seem to stick as the breaches self repair but the power and material do come from somewhere she can't keep it up forever.

The Ardjet now breaks apart it's entire cape, it takes but a few seconds for the Wisps to urbitl her in two groups like electrons around an atom. Then the twin streams come at Archangel, she's clearly having too much fun with these things.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has attacked Archangel. WISP Swarm added to their queue.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has struck a major hit on Archangel's Gabriel using WISP Swarm.

COMBAT: Archangel has counter attacked for a minor hit on Ken Marinaris's Ardjet using WG-AR1000.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has missed Cynthia Lane with his Double Boost Knuckle attack.

As Mechashiva Aka Gurren Vysaga Lagann combines, Kamina flexes the lower half of the robot as the green spiral energy fuses the robot together. He grins as it begins to repair itself right in front of Yazan Gable's eyes. "Heh. You'll never forget about me, old man. I'll haunt your dreams at the retirement home!" Kamina grins as Yazan fires his smartgun at the Gurren, knocking off armor from the knees. The machine's components struggle under the machines weight but somehow, the spiral power is able to stablize the machine. "Tch. IF ONE LEG BECOMES WEAK, THE OTHER WILL BE STRONGER!" He catches Gurren's shades, point them at Yazan. "Even if I fall down, I will get back up! And if I can't defeat you, then Simon will."

Kamina looks up at the roof as if he can see Lamia. "Tch. Even if a man is killed, he will never die! We would've fought even if there was every enemy in the sky. Right Simon?! LET'S SHOW THEM THE POWER WE HAVE TOGETHER!"

The lower half of Mechashiva lifts it's arms and sprouts twin drills, extending them outward to try to hit Yazan from both sides! "HOW ABOUT YOU STOP LAUGHING OLD MAN DRILL!!!!"

COMBAT: Kamina has attacked Yazan Gable. Making Everything Up added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kamina has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has activated a spirit command.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

YOUR HEAD

Echidna sees the boost knuckles coming before they get particularly close. Which is good, because it takes her unit that long to start moving again. She turns, bringing her shoulder up so that Kyosuke can smash into it.

He ends up bouncing off the shield, though. Nobody is hurt! At least in that instant.

Echidna ignores the lightweight and apparently ineffective Weissritter to focus on the much larger Grungust. She accelerates rapidly, pulling down the bazooka again and firing a repeated barrage of shots as she dives.

She has the vague feeling she should be yelling. Perhaps it is overflow from Kamina's sheer volume.

COMBAT: Kamina has struck a major critical hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using Making Everything Up.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Excellen Browning. Linear Bazooka Bombardment added to their queue.

As Gabriel was heading back down, those wisp came and banged around the AC pretty good. Parts of its armor was broken off, hydrolics damaged, and scorching it up pretty good. However as this all happens, Archangel sneers and then opens fire back at Ken. As he watches the bullet danced around on the Frame's armor, his AC lands down roughly due to the hydrolic leak and tsks softly, "Computer, switch hydrolics to back up in damaged areas!"

"Acknowledged."

The AC then strafed to the side, once more back on the ground, before he takes a interesting chance, powering up his energy blade, he swings the blade up in the air, and it in turn sends a wave over arched energy right up at the Orbital frame.

COMBAT: Archangel has attacked Ken Marinaris. LS-93 Moonlight Blast added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has struck a major hit on Excellen Browning's Grungust Type 0 using Linear Bazooka Bombardment.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has missed Echidna Iisaki with her Mega Blaster counter attack.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has activated a spirit command.

Coop Cooplowski smiles and shrugs. Just as well, really, he thinks to himself. From what it sounds like, he'd have to wait in line to take a shot at W17 anyway, and both Vindel and W16 are well ahead of him in that department. "All right then," he says, fingers tensing on the armrests of his cockpit chair. "Your funeral."

The Black Thirteen is big and slow compared to both the lithe little Gundam and the Decisive All-Purpose Humanoid Weapon Evangelion, but its power is not the only advantage it has over the smaller machines. It also has the technique of a pilot who has years of experience. Coop moves as Shiro darts in, lifting the robot's left leg and thrusting it outward in a muay thai block, accepting the twin slash on the more heavily-armoured shin, the beam sabres biting into thick plating instead of the sensitive knee joints. Coop slams the foot back down and plants it, the big robot's legs bending as it suddenly leaps backward toward the Evangelion, turning a backflip and twisting its frame to bring it down facing Rei. The Thirteen's hands come together and then surge forward, pellet rifle blasts spattering across its armour as it hurls a blazing red energy sword at the Evangelion's abdomen, then turns so its left and right arms are pointed toward Shiro and Rei, respectively.

"Access Weaponspace," Coop commands, black smoke churning out from the still-burning plating as the big black robot's arms and legs split open and spread apart, opening up several missile banks that empty their payloads outward. "Let's see," Coop muses, scrolling through his holographic display. "What today..."

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has struck a apocalyptic critical hit on Johnny Ridden's AMX-011S Zaku III Ridden Custom using Atlas Horror Stories.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has attacked Shiro Amada and Rei Ayanami. All the Goddamn Missiles added to their queue.

COMBAT: Archangel has missed Ken Marinaris with his LS-93 Moonlight Blast attack.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Shiro Amada with his All the Goddamn Missiles attack.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has struck Rei Ayanami with a solid hit using All the Goddamn Missiles!

"Heh... you think she decided anything? That hasn't been proven! She may not even be CAPABLE OF IT!" Axel roars back in defiance, at Mister Bushido. His eyes narrow -- and he finds his technique beaten back, fists and kicks held backward by the rapid movements of the GN-powered machine. It is amazing -- a level of finesse and skill that Axel never knew possible with a standard cockpit.

The kick sends the machine flying backward, but Axel fires the thrusters; a blast of blue elight erupts, and holds the Soulgain aloft, and then shoots upward above the sudden strike of the beam katana.

"Protect her? Protect HER?!" Axel roars back. He thinks of a different time -- a time only he was here for, a time that only he saw, among the Shadow-Mirrors. He remembers how this city was remade in the New Colony Age; Soulgain had stood in the distance, and watched as that colony shattered and turned into a fireball that blasted this area clean. "The same way you protected this city?! WHAT CAN YOU PROTECT!?"

Blue light explodes and erupts off the Soulgain, blasting through the air. It scars the nearby city buildings black; electricity flows and crackles along it, and he brings one fist up in front of the Soulgain. "Limiter," Axel shouts, "DISENGAGE!"

The Soulgain bursts forth. The right fist leads in a mighty punch. Axel throws the left a moment later, rapid strikes firing with each fist; it becomes a blur of blue that is punctuated when the hands suddenly drag backward, palms shoved together.

Blue light explodes off them; a column of energy erupts into the air and at the Masurao, seeking to drive it higher. At the zenith of its climb, in a blink of light, Soulgain is there and coming down.

The energized ar blades slash down and down, all the way to the ground. The Soulgain's feet hit the street below hard enough to send cracks shooting across the street's surface.

"CODE KIRIN!"

COMBAT: Axel Almer has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has attacked Mister Bushido. Code Kirin added to their queue.

A barrier. A /barrier/. "Ohhh! Now THAT's fun!" Cynthia exclaims, and is quickly complimented from Bullet - because really, why not? Bullet clearly understands just how things work - or at least, that's what Cynthia wants to believe. "Yeah, my Dominator is amazing, isn't it?" She says with little to no care.

"It's a good thing I have something fun to play with while using it, you know. Otherwise it's kind of boring. Way too many rank amatuers." The Grgunst's fist is pointed towards the Dominator, and the seconds also erupts off - and straight towards the Dominator. "Huh? Oh I remember this one. You use it too?"

The fists smash into the Dominator - and the gelantainous machine grips the ground, legs and arms anchoring itself as the fists smash back the body - they struggle, trying to go through - but are finally beaten, a rather rubbery situation they end in. "Nice try~!"

Elasticity be damned, moments later the two rocket punches have reversed course and are going to meet Bullet /head on/.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has attacked Brooklyn Luckfield. It Did What added to their queue.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has struck a solid hit on Brooklyn Luckfield's Grungust using It Did What.

"I -"

Lamia blinks again. Something runs down her face, bringing her to put a hand on her cheek. It's wet.

She looks at her fingers for a moment, and then laughs. It's brief, rather sharp, and trails off with something resembling a snort, but it's clear laughter. "... Simon. You're right. I - I suppose I've spent too long pretending."

She breathes in deeply, finally looking past the others for a moment at the greater battlefield. The sight of the Grungust...s? makes her wonder... but, should she -

"Simon," she continues, a little shyly, "please tell them I'm sorry for--" Oh, right, battle.

The shaking of their impromptu tower of machinery tells Lamia that perhaps Kamina's unit lacks the same unification method that Simon's does. The shaking, the wobbling, the weebling... her attention snaps ahead again, to Vindel Mauser.

"Colonel!" she shouts. "Are you asking for the public's support for your attacks?!"

Vysaga, whose legs are long enough to at least push it forwards, leans inwards, swerving around those incoming blows, parrying them with the sword in two cases, shielding the head - and then grasping the blade with both hands. "Even if I have hurt them - they still embrace me. If I'm with them, death isn't something to fear--"

Vysaga stabs downwards, then, into the ground!? Oh dear, the repave taxes -- Chibodee will be sad. The ground, though, bursts with green light outwards, the wave of force travelling towards the legs of the Zweizergain, where it erupts with ear-and-pavement-pulverising force!

COMBAT: Mister Bushido has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has struck a devastating critical hit on Mister Bushido's Masurao using Code Kirin.

Knock Out! Mister Bushido's Masurao unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Vindel Mauser. Geo Driller added to their queue.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a glancing hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Geo Driller.

"/Kyosuke/!"

It is a /very/ good thing for certain parties that a /certain/ attack attempt missed. Voice snaps her teammate's name on the private band, Excellen turning the green-eyed glare of the Grungust for a moment to her squad leader; for someone who should be paying attention to her surroudings and the present situation, she sounds remarkably put out. "That was NOT accidental!"

Someone, like as not, is going to be getting an earfull when they get home.

Still, the Randgrith is certainly much more evasive than its bulk and shape would imply. Perhaps hif she'd yelled out an attack phrase, Echidna would have been caught off-guard??

A metal hand rotates at the wrist once the first fist settles back into position, and the machine is in the process of accepting the second when Echidna turns the attacks upon her. There's a brilliant flash, and a burst of beam energy is fired in retaliation, colliding with some of the incoming bombardment - but not enough to incinerate it all. Though both fists are raised defensively, minature explosions rupture across the outer hull of the Type-0, leaving heavy pockmarks in the armor, and definite puncture marks in other places.

Hmmf. "Looks like we need to step it up a bit," Excellen murmurs, before her hand reaches to the left and begins to snap back several switches.

The HUD flickers with green lights in response, before part of the heavy armor lining the mid-section of the Grungust extends out from the greater mass of metal and flips open a missile compartment. With some luck, perhaps this may cause enough degradation (if it hits) that Kyosuke can take advantage of it.

Without using the Oxtongue as a melee weapon this time, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Armor Breaker added to their queue.

/oh, earthnoid jesus, why/

Johnny was pretty sure that his opponent was not, in fact, going to march straight through a building to get to him, both because the Atlas is - theoretically - /defending/ the city, and because that is a terrible ieda.

He was wrong.

The Atlas explodes out of a parking garage, grabs the crimson and black Zaku III, and drags it back into the equivalent of a cartoon dust cloud. There are terrible sounds of shrieking metal as the Atlas simply beats the lighter Zaku III to robo-death.

Somewhere in the middle of the beating, the Ultra Mega Mega Launcher, broken and battered, goes flying out of the dust cloud; inside, Johnny struggles to get his Zaku's right arm down to its waist, to get its second beam emitter out.

He does, eventually, succeed.

And then, suddenly, bright yellow beams of energy begin spraying upwards out of the dust cloud, as Johnny opens fire at point-blank into the Atlas still tearing his MS apart, trying to get it through the chest. He doesn't have to disable the thing if he can just kill the pilot, after all!

Ha ha! /IGNORANCE!/

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has struck a major hit on Simon's VR-02L Vysagann using Black Blade of Disaster.

COMBAT: Simon has missed Vindel Mauser with his Fast Draw counter attack.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has attacked Marcus Gunter. Twin Waist Beam Guns added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has struck a solid critical hit on Marcus Gunter's AS7-D Atlas using Twin Waist Beam Guns.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Punch counter attack.

The smartgun is swept backwards onto the Xeku Zwei's tremendous back as both main arms grip onto the saber hilts jutting out from either side of the mobile suit's main thrusters. Pulling them free, twin blades of red spew into existence, particles hyper-condensing into sharpened, volatile points as they join the first pair.

"Ya think so, huh?" comes Yazan's grating voice as dark, beady eyes focus entirely on Kamina's Gurren. Take that thing out, and that whole stupid thing will crumble--

"Well, shucks then." The thrusters glow at the back of the Xeku.

"I'LL JUST HAVE TO CUT BOTH OF 'EM OFF, EH?!"

The Xeku LAUNCHES forward, perhaps suicidally, as the MECHASHIVA launches its drill arms outward. Both IMPALE into the sides of the Xeku, shredding off armor like mower blades tearing through yielding grass. Darkly-painted alloys shatter and scatter to the breeze... JUST as the Xeku slams into the Gurren, topmost beam sabers-first.

"AN' EVERY OTHER PIECE OF THIS WORTHLESS PIECE OF GARBAGE! THAT'LL BE FUN FOR YOU, /RIGHT/?! AHAHAHAHA!!"

The sabers PLUNGE forward, to pierce into the shoulders of the Gurren and /carve/ through the joints. The second pair /slice/ downward, to rip apart the Gurren's legs, that oh-so-delicate support structure of the MECHASHIVA. And then -- a third pair of sabers eject from the middle subarms of the Xeku.

"C'/mon/, ASSHOLE!"

And the fifth and sixth of those sabers thrust forward, aimed straight for the proud face chest of the Gurren.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Kamina. Beam Saber Overkill added to their queue.

"Ah, Kamina, careful--Yazan Gable's really dangerous--" Simon says, having spent many an hour to gabledickery.com. He can dole out big speeches but unlike most hot bloods believes in a level of prudence.

Vindel's black blade cracks into the cockpit shielding of the Lagann aspect of the latest gestalted robot. He isn't sure if this is actually working out like it intended, it's hard to figure out such weird systems the first time using it. Sure, 99 percent is intuitive but against Vindel Mauser, one percent can be quite problematic.

His head slams against the back of his chair and Simon coughs out, an arm flailing out but whiffing, even as the boy sees sparks of light in his vision.

Lamia strikes with a drill, Simon uses the opportunity to rip out the Gurren's shades and swing them hard for the Zweizergain, but one gets the feeling that he's stalling for time.

"It'll be alright." He manages, "It'll be alright, if we keep trying--" He's a member of the AFY, he has to try to end this soon--but how? These are all elites--it's hard enough to simply touch them.

The Weisritter basically wholesale bounces off the Randgrith's shield. The entirety of it deflects like a bullet (which it basically was), sending it careening away until Kyosuke once more gets it under control. It begins to come around in a wide arc for another go; hopefully one that doesn't end quite so poorly this time. "Weisritter caught me off guard," Kyosuke states by way of explanation. There is an empty, lingering silence where a more cowardly man might promise that it won't happen again. "You're right; we can't afford to waste time." He eventually breaks the silence, probably not with what Excellen /really/ wanted to hear. In what is no doubt a relieving move, /this time/ he draws the Plasma Cutter /before/ charging. This time, when the Weisritter comes rushing in like a suicide berserker, Kyosuke is /ready/. Ready to dart behind the Randgrith and give it a good slash, and then get the hell out of the way as quickly as he came.

COMBAT: Simon has attacked Vindel Mauser. Fast Draw added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Plasma Cutter Drive-By added to their queue.

COMBAT: Simon has missed Vindel Mauser with his Fast Draw attack.

There could be any number of explanations for what happens next. The gap in skill, if any exists, between Axel Almer and 'Mister Bushido' is narrow at best; a hairsbreadth difference that could go either way. In such a situation, with victory or defeat, life or death, balanced on the razor edge of a blade, there is no room for mistakes, no room for inattention, no room for stray thoughts. But the masked ace's balance is disturbed, his center is not centered; trying to work through confusion in the heat of battle is the worst mistake a warrior can make, and this is proven as his brutal slash is avoided by the Soulgain, leaving him to stare upwards, green eyes wide, as an alert appears on the top of his panoramic viewscreen, and the the Crusader machine dives downwards with its first punch. The Masurao tries to avoid it, but can't; the suit's head is stricken from its shoulders by the first strike. Sucessive strikes slam into the GNX-U02X over and over again, crushing armor, fracturing the frame. Severing connections, depriving key systems of power. Dead in the air, the Masurao begins to drop, but not before the Soulgain attacks /again/, the column of energy tossing it back skyward, the nonresponsive machine left wide open for the final attacks. By the end of it, the Masurao is virtually unrecogniseable, tracing a surprisingly gentle arc down towards the ruined city below; shortly before it would strike, a last alert appears in the cockpit: DRIVE PURGE The two GN-Ts are ejected from the Masurao, thrown in opposite directions as they lose intergrity and self-destruct, throwing refined, burnt-orange GN particles everywhere as the custom suit itself crashes. It does not move.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Mister Bushido's signal is suddenly lost.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has struck a minor hit on Echidna Iisaki's RGV-30 Randgrith using Armor Breaker.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has missed Echidna Iisaki with his Plasma Cutter Drive-By attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has counter attacked for a minor hit on Kyosuke Nanbu's Weissritter using Incision Knife.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Hiroshi Shiba transmits, "What?!"

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rei Ayanami transmits, "Bl-Bl-Bl-Black Eagle, do you -- cop-- Do -- Do you--"

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rei Ayanami makes a vaguely frustrated noise, which no doubt exceeds her 'expression of human feelings' quota for the year.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Excellen Browning transmits, "..Oh man."

Punch! Kick! Punch! Stomp! Pu-- Marcus' cathatic moment of sheer, unbridled violence is brought to a screeching halt as the Atlas takes a pair of beam guns to the chest, stripping away armor and exposing the engine casing to the cool, moist air. The Atlas stumbles back two steps from the blow before finally regaining it's balance, "Shit! This guy is a fighter, I'll give him that!" With the very obvious gaping wound that is NOT a cockpit block hanging in the breeze, Marcus decides to ease off with the beating and goes back to taking things from a ranged approach. After all, Juku will be pissed enough having to repair the armor damage. He doesn't need her moaning about having to replace the engine shielding too. Both arms snap up and ruby red lances of light streaks out from the barrels mounted there.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Twin Hellion-V Lasers added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Twin Hellion-V Lasers attack.

The Soulgain sets down onto the ground. Blue light bleeds from it for a moment longer, before it stops -- and Axel looks at the monitor in front of him, watching as red text begins to flash across it.

LIMITER ENGAGED

"Not out of juice, though," Axel laughs. He walks forward -- and the Soulgain does the same, down the street, and towards Vysagann. The machine raises a hand; blue electricity crackles over it, and his eyes narrow.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has struck a glancing hit on Kamina's Gurren using Beam Saber Overkill.

COMBAT: Kamina has counter attacked for a minor hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using My Shades Are My Blade!.

Ken Marinaris doesn't like melee, and sees the moonlight saber, she knows what those things can do. The brand made it's way to mars even pre jump drive. Which speaks to how good it is. He own blade flicks out and intercepts the incomming energy save parrying it on the blade. At least how that looks. Ken's just used compressed space to focus it on to the blade itself and uses it as a power boost as she raises one harnd forming a large sphere in hand before throwing the energy ball ight at the AC.

"Not enough!"

The agility of Black Thirteen is remarkable for it's size. Shiro would have figured that it would be the slowest thing out here, but the fact that it can /move/ like that is just astounding. He looks up (he'll be doing that a lot) and notes the missile banks... and decides to get the hell out of the way.

The Gundam Ez8 leaps high into the air, above the nearby skyline without much effort. It points it's weapons down and starts firing with it's anti-personnel cannons and vulcans, detonating missiles that come for him before they can get close. He fires the 100mm down at Black Thirteen as he ascends and reaches the apex of his jump, his thrusters cutting out and a safety warning coming on-screen as he turns and starts to fall.

Shiro catches a glimpse of the rather distinct Soulgain moving too unhindered in the distance. Being kind of an idiot, he shoots him in the back, too, to try and draw him off before he hits the ground.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has attacked Archangel. Burst Attack added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has attacked Evil Coop and Axel Almer. Machine Gun Strafe added to their queue.

Echidna Iisaki realizes three things.

1) Lamia is well and truly lost. She will never come back. Echidna has to resign herself to that.

2) Excellen is not in the Weissritter, which means that Lemon will not get a special surprise tonight.

3) Judging by the voice, she /is/ in the Grungust 0.

Echidna does not do anything as crass as smile. But her lips shift, just a tiny bit. She turns in place, the Armour Breaker shattering against the Randgrith's side and shredding the armour; Kyosuke is prevented from taking advantange of this by a knife being driven into the Weissritter. She leaves it there, possibly to inconvenience Kyosuke or just to annoy him. Or maybe she just couldn't be bothered to yank.

"Excellen Browning," Echidna says, enunciating very clearly. "We were looking for you." This she says while pulling the Linear Bazooka into place, locking an ultraheavy explosive shell in, locking on, and firing. The oversized round whistles through the air, descending slightly before impacting on or near the Grungust -

It explodes into a ball of flame and heat bright enough to cast weird shadows against the skyline, a cloud of smoke rising from the impact point.

COMBAT: Archangel has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has missed Archangel with her Burst Attack attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Excellen Browning. Linear Bazooka Special Load added to their queue.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has struck a devastating critical hit on Excellen Browning's Grungust Type 0 using Linear Bazooka Special Load.

Archangel hrms and then fires up a missile for the energy ball, as he stirs his AC away. The Ball explodes between the energy mass and the missile making impact with it, this also gives him a moment to mask where he was by the large cloud of smoke. There was silence for a moment, before Archangel had Gabriel back in the air and if anything the AC was moving at extreme speeds, that laser blade active and glowing. <<"Then let me try harder!">>

COMBAT: Archangel has attacked Ken Marinaris. LS-93 Moonlight Mastery added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has missed Axel Almer with his Machine Gun Strafe attack.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has missed Shiro Amada with his Seiryurin counter attack.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has struck a minor hit on Evil Coop's Black Thirteen using Machine Gun Strafe.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has counter attacked for a minor hit on Shiro Amada's Gundam Ez8 using Rocket Punch.

The twin dragons drill in to the Type-00R, pinning it's arms spread wide, and then detonate, rocking the machine almost to pieces. Smoke and flame belch out of the machine as it struggles to remain standing, with one thought in Meiya's mind.

Shura friend ship kinda sucks.

Something very bizarr happens, though. Meiya suddenly has this sense of being somewhere... else. Away from New york, suddenly away from the melee. The barren landscape is alien, strange, and something about it is profoundly...sad.

The Takemikazuchi snaps it's head around to look at the Valefar, just in time for it to lean back, and avoid the first few blows.

PB Blades swing up and parry aside more of the Shura God driven attacks, the explosion like force form even the missed blow though, smashes the Takemikazuchi from side to side, armor shedding from it's body like dead skin.

Even when the final brutalizing, powerfull kick smashes at the Takemikazuchi's midsection, the PB Blades cross over each other, guarding the cockpit of the machine from the impact. THe placeds themselves are wrecked. Polybonded carbon is a good material, but it doesn't match up to E-Carbon, or even Gundarium. The words flash through Meiya's mind. She's not a NewType, or a PsychoDriver, or even a traditional ESPer, but when a God says something, you more then hear it. It's more like it's felt.

As New York fades back into existance for Meiya, the Takemikazuchi trembles, and falls to one knee. Oil sprays out of it's leg joints as pressure is completely lost.

Meiya...can scarcly believe she managed to keep her cool for the past few minutes, and even achieved what she wanted.

"And that, is human friendship." If Fernando thinks back carefully, during all of that parrying, Meiya could have slid the PB Blade between the plates of Valefar's armor, ending it at the same time it finished her off, but she didn't.

<Radio: C - Joint Chat> Meiya Mitsurugi transmits, "Was...I still here, for the past... minute and a half?"

Th-the rules of Super Robots are failing Bullet? How can this be?! "You've /got/ to be kidding!" It isn't. Two fists belonging to the unit itself smash right into the TK Field, which is literally a major headache for the Psychodriver. "Ugh! G-gotta stay focused..." It's getting more difficult to do, that's for sure.

While the Grungust's hands automatically re-attach, Bullet mumbles to himself, "That thing is ridiculous..." And thanks to it, he hasn't really even been able to keep track of how the battle's been going. Mister Bushido's signal vanishing can't be a good sign, though. "Dammit, even him?! I've got to do something..."

The still reeling Grungust abruptly straightens up, its pilot addressing the pilot of the Dominator directly. "I... don't have time for this! You really don't realize how serious this is, do you? I'll just have to show you then!"

The Grungust raises one hand to the sky. "Calamity Sword!" Energy crackles, a large blade summoned from out of nowhere, landing directly in the Grungust's opened palm. The Super Robot's fist clenches around the hilt, soon joined by the other hand, the weapon held at the ready next to its head. And then it charges. It can be deceptively fast when it needs to be, speeding by the Dominator on full thruster power.

"Type-1 Sword, slaaaaaash!" Adding this for effect, the Lion-headed Grungust lashes out with the weapon in passing, and just keeps on going. He's got to get closer to where his teammates are fighting... he can't risk something bad happening because he wasn't around to prevent it, not again!

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has attacked Cynthia Lane. Calamity Sword added to their queue.

The 100mm machinegun burst cuts across the ground just left of the Soulgain -- pockmarks are carved into the street, and the Soulgain spins; thrusters fire and make the machine turn, concrete ground and cut into by the feet of the super robot. His machine brings the left hand up; a bolt of blue crackles across the palm, and then a lance of energy explodes off it and fires up towards the Ez8.

"Cooplowski," Axel says. "I'm coming in!"

The Soulgain pulls back both arms; there is a burst of wind and a crackle of lightning, and the twin fists rocket away, cyclones throwing the fists forward, and try to intersect on the Ez8.

"BYAKKO KOU!"

COMBAT: Axel Almer has attacked Shiro Amada. Byakko Kou added to their queue.

You know what hurts? Getting stabbed with a flaming sword.

You know what hurts more?

All the goddamn missiles.

Rei Ayanami experiences both of these things in quick succession. As armor plating is blasted off of the Evangelion and disgusting wounds are opened in its necrotized flesh, thick dark blood begins to seep out -- thick dark blood that shimmers and sparkles with a ruddy orange afterglow in the light. Blood that probably glows in the dark. As if Evangelions weren't weird enough.

"Aaaah!" Rei suddenly cries out, clutching her sides, feeling her body split along the same lines as her monstrous bio-unit. "Nnngh!" She's not aware she's broadcasting these squeals of pain to Shiro. The Eva itself flounders for a moment, dropping its rifle, seeming ready to tip backward.

Then, without warning, Rei blurts, like a note on a tuneless trumpet: "Attckntrgt!" And then, out of nowhere, /the Eva pulls a knife/, a move no doubt perfected in giant dockside bars.

A knife that glows with GN power.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Evil Coop. GN Progressive Knife Mastery added to their queue.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami missed Evil Coop with your GN Progressive Knife Mastery attack.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

When the smoke clears, and the Atlas backs off, Johnny Ridden's Zaku III is basically ruined. Mortal words can barely describe the extent to which the shit has been beaten out of it; every visible surface on the thing is in a different state than it was when the Atlas got its hands on it. The idea that it might still be functioning is positively ridiculous.

But the soul still burns.

Johnny squints at the exposed inner workings of the Atlas's chest; that's definitely not a cockpit. How annoying. When did head cockpits become so popular? The only one he's ever even heard of until recently was the Zeong, and, well...

/Zeong./

Marcus makes the decision to switch to guns, and an instant later a beam of ethereal lightning flashes through Johnny's consciousness, casting the shadow of his opponent's soul across the Crimson Lightning's mind... and it stays there, a jagged tear in space and time that floods Johnny with a certainty of the events to come.

A split second before Marcus fires on the prone Zaku III, it suddenly springs into motion, its thrusters firing desperately and lifting it up to its feet, and backwards away from the battlemech again; it swings its limbs just so, and Marcus's shots slip in between gaps between the Zaku's limbs and its body, punching into the ground and boiling blacktop.

The Zaku scrambles for its discarded - and ruined - Ultra Mega Mega Launcher, although strangely there seems little desperation in its movements. When it gets there, it steps fluidly over the fallen weapon, turns, and simply kicks it back towards the Atlas, sending it tumbling along the ground towards the battlemech.

An instant before a theoretical collission, the Zaku fires one of the beam guns in its hands, and the launcher simply explodes into a huge fireball as its remaining ammunition goes up all at once. But Johnny doesn't stop; he keeps firing, tracing the Atlas effortlessly through the opaque cloud of flame and smoke, following Marcus's heart.

Eventually, the beam guns simply run out of power... and an instant later, the lightning in Johnny's mind vanishes, and he slumps against the straps of his linear seat, suddenly exhausted.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has attacked Marcus Gunter. Ride The Lightning added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Johnny Ridden has struck a major hit on Marcus Gunter's AS7-D Atlas using Ride The Lightning.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has missed Johnny Ridden with his Deathgiver Autocannon counter attack.

Kamina growls as Yazan's machine slams into the glory that is Mechashiva. The machine rocks as the machine comes into contact with it. Somehow only armor is scrapped off. Otherwise, that Beam saber would've made Kamina splatter across his cockpit. Even so, The Gurren is hurting. The machine looks pretty piss poor since Simon likely doesn't have enough Spiral Power to keep this whole rig up. This isn't good.

"Heh. Didn't you hear me old man? I thought I made it clear for you. EVEN IF YOU HIT ME, I WILL GET BACK UP UNTIL I CAN NO LONGER STAND!!!"

The next sabers slam into the Gurren, cracking the legs and making Mecha Shiva stumble. Somehow they still hold if only by one tiny beam. One last support structure held up by Kamina's will and not much else.

When the final sabers races toward the cockpit but are suddenly blocked by drills which take the majority of the strike. The mighty Mechashive wobbles on literally it's last legs. Kamina pulls back on his controls. "WITHOUT LEGS AND ARMS? WELL HERE ARE SOME DRILLS!!!!" Suddenly Mechashiva begins to sprout drills from all over, threatening to puncture Xeku Zwei. "THIS IS ALL OR NOTHING!!!!"

COMBAT: Kamina has attacked Yazan Gable. Making Things Up added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kamina has struck a glancing hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using Making Things Up.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has struck a glancing hit on Cynthia Lane's Dominator using Calamity Sword.

"We do not need the support of the public. All that matters is that we continue to fight. You know that as well as anyone, W-17." Vindel waits for the attack, watching as the Vysagann comes racing towards him. The machine is fast - but Zweizergain is just as fast, and the moment that the two blows come down - the sword strike, followed by the drill - the Zweizergain simply disappears from view. The super robot teleports a short distance away, out of the immediate threat range of the combined machine. "What is the measure of humanity if not it's ability to survive? Have you told them yet, as your lips rush forth to babble secrets to your new 'friends', W-17? Have you told them that the cause of our world's downfall exists here as well? Or were you planning to simply use your knowledge to execute some sort of misguided 'revenge' against us?" A faint red aura springs up around the Zweizergain as it's stage 1 limiter deactivates, more power flowing into the machine. There is no motion, not even a ripple... And a second Zweizergain suddenly comes in from behind, aiming to slam a blow right into the small of the Vysagann's back. A second appears in front, lashing upwards to try and knock the machine into the air. And then the original leaps up, spinning around with a backhand to drive Lamia down into the pavement once again. "You will always be one of us, W-17! Or would you prefer your human name from now on, if you believe yourself to stand on our level?"

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has attacked Lamia Loveless. Dark Shadow Fist added to their queue.

COMBAT: Axel Almer has struck a major hit on Shiro Amada's Gundam Ez8 using Byakko Kou.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Lamia Loveless with his Dark Shadow Fist attack.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has missed Vindel Mauser with her Lite Drill counter attack.

"****ing hell!" Marcus exclaims as the bazooka goes off right in his face like a firecracker, blinding him for several seconds as he's bombarded by beam fire... but he refuses to back down even if he can't see shit! He triggers the Deathgiver AC and unleashes a barrage of high yeild rounds as he backpedals his Battlemech out of the parking garage. He doesn't hit anything though. Then the garage groans. Marcus glances up at the parking garage as it starts to weaken from the damage inflicted upon it... then gets a devlish grin him his face as he pulls the trigger. More AC shells slam into the parking garage, blowing out support structures both in the bottom floor where Johnny is and in the floors above. Eventually, the damage is too much for the building to take. Within mere moments, all six floors of the parking garage are pancaked onto each other, burying anything caught within.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has attacked Johnny Ridden. Demolition added to their queue.

COMBAT: Marcus Gunter has struck a glancing hit on Johnny Ridden's AMX-011S Zaku III Ridden Custom using Demolition.

COMBAT: Knock Out! Johnny Ridden's AMX-011S Zaku III Ridden Custom unit has become disabled!

"Junk, junk, junk," Coop mutters to himself as he flips through weapons. "Junk, junk. Damn, I need to clear out my inven....how the hell do I even /use/ that?" he asks, staring at the on-screen display.

"Unknown command. Please restate query," Kiva's metallic voice rings out.

"I mean, that's...dangerously impractical."

"Unknown command. Please restate query."

"Going to need to have a look at you, you're getting sarcastic again," Coop mutters, to which the onboard computer wisely does not respond. The big man fires the Black Thirteen's left fist after Shiro Amada, the Gundam's rapid fire continuing to chip away at his machine's chest plating. "He's all yours, Almer!" Coop shouts as he reorients himself toward the Evangelion, seeing the weird lanky machine rushing in...is it bleeding Tang? "Oh what the hell," Coop mutters, activating his selection.

The Black Thirteen drops to one knee as Rei drives the GN Prog Knife forward, its right hand pulling a large metal object out of its weaponspace and dropping it down in a rapid parry, the grinding edge of Rei's blade throwing up sparks as it begins digging into the heavy alloy. The object the black titan is holding appears to be a large object composed of two long, curved handles - the one closest to the robot longer than the other - that have been connected by a pair of short rods at either end. The ends, four in all, consist of an odd-looking cap that splits open as the Black Thirteen recovers its left fist and grips both hands on the object's rear handle. "All right," Coop says, leaning forward. "Let's see what this thing can do."

The Beam Bat'leth bursts to life, two burning red blades springing out to either side of the weapon as the Black Thirteen shoves forward against the Evangelion with the handle, then sweeps the blades across in three rapid motions, right and left and right again.

COMBAT: Archangel has struck a major critical hit on Ken Marinaris's Ardjet using LS-93 Moonlight Mastery.

Oh, sure. Blame her machine. "Uh huh," is the disbeliving response, though Excellen is given little time to dwell on what didn't happen. And wince at the retaliating blow dealt her white mech. Some day, they might produce a light armor that isn't so inclined to break on contact. But it won't be this day.

Any further train of thought is abruptly derailed by two important details: the first, being the fall of Graham Aker, felled by the larger threat of the Soulgain. It isn't a sight anyone wishes to see. She doesn't know him well, if at all, but she's liked what she's heard. Even if some of that might be coloured by exposure to Sanger Zonvolt and Rishu Togo.. The signal lost, and Almer's attention goodness knows where.. Orders, onces that make her swallow but are understood, even as eyes flicker between the location of the -Gain brother mecha and the battered VysagacomboLagann. This day is really, really beginning to suck.

It is now that the second thing, the second derailment occurs, and an elegant brow arches at being addressed by name by the mystery female pilot. ('/Me/'? she thinks, 'that makes nooooo sense', especially given Axel's hounding of Kyosuke im-not-a-figure-of-ancient-literature Nanbu over there). "You can look all you like, if it pleases ya," she responds tartly, "But not t--" Her witty response is lost in the roar of the explosion of flames that engulf the Grungust Type-0, the unit's commincation systems briefly squealing on all channels in loud static.

When the eruption of sound and fire finally subsides, the Grungust is looking decidely melted and very much worse for wear. Even within the safe bounds of the cockpit, Excellen is drenched with sweat from the heat of the attack's explosion, and rattled quite severely. "....I dunno what you think you're looking for in me," she informs her, as the massive Grungust prototype rolls back its shoulders. The golden star on its chest heaves, before the modules open, and the telltale spark of power begins to grow. On the cracked, frazzling screens, she lines up the crosshairs as she firmly locks onto her target; manually? That's not an issue for a trained sniper like her, no matter what the machine.

Her voice is raised just that little bit louder. "But a gal like me's too much for you ta handle! HYYYYYPER BLASTER!"

COMBAT: Evil Coop has attacked Rei Ayanami. Beam Bat'leth added to their queue.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has attacked Axel Almer. Hyper Blaster added to their queue.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has struck Rei Ayanami with a glancing hit from their Beam Bat'leth attack!

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has counter attacked Evil Coop with a minor hit using GN Progressive Knife.

"Oh it sure /is/ serious. The Crusaders have been on a losing streak, so I've decided they need to win~!" Cynthia so happily exclaims, like really, that's the problem. It sort of is to her though. Stretching back to the normal 'large' shape, the Dominator's arms spread out, the overman taking a step forwards. "Ohhh, are you going to show me something then? ... I just love it when you really stop boring me!" Calamity sword?

"Now I like how that sounds, so how about it!"

The Grungust powers past the Dominator, blade unsheathing - and one of the arms twisting around into a blade, the other spreading out, swelling into the shape of a shield. The blade is torn through, but the shield is 'scratched', muscle engines torn free, but not ripped apart.

"Hey, where are you going!? You're staying RIGHT! HERE!" Cynthia, shaken from within the cockpit from the assault throws herself and the Dominator forwards, biting down hard on the gum she currently is entertained by. "I'm not going to let you get taken out by someone else! All my hard work is NOT going to go to waste!"

The Dominator rolls out, literately, a boulder like form rolling, rolling and rolling ever forwards towards the Grungust - but it bounces on the ground, launching straight up from behind him, both arms spreading out as a swelling energy signal translates to a sudden pair of lasers crossing Bullet's path -

It'll either be a kicking rad introduction as Bullet powers away from her, the ground exploding after he passes by - or well, he'll be in the middle of it.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has attacked Brooklyn Luckfield. Energy Explosion added to their queue.

The shades of the Gurren smash into the side of Xeku, making its assault veer off path. Yazan curses as what should be the final blow is forcefully diverted by a swath of blades. He would be surprised -- if he wasn't so infuriated. The massive drills /thrust/ forward--

--and the verniers of the Xeku's frontside open up, expelling a brief but powerful /burst/ of force. Several of those drills are simply knocked aside from the bulky machine's expulsion as the force makes it launch backwards ten feet off the air. Drills puncture through its shoulders, tearing off one of its ammo racks as mobile-suit-sized ammo feeds crash into the New York City streets, clattering about violently as they go. But --

"Guess you got nothin', eh, champ?! GAHAHAHAHA!!"

--The Xeku Zwei is still functioning.

Landing with a sudden, violent skid, the Xeku sweeps towards the side; its sabers glow bright as two retract back into their recharge racks. Those sub-arms sweep backwards, as if looking for something behind it.

"Here -- lemme help ya with that 'standin'' problem of yours, chump!"

Still searching, the Xeku seems content to just /surge/ forward one last time, swiping aside drills as all four of its blades suddenly begin to rotate within its grasp -- creating four whirling dirvishes of energy blade-based violence that seek to do nothing less than to carve the Gurren, and thus the MECHASHIVA'S mighty support into so many little chunks.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has attacked Kamina. Quad Beam Sabers added to their queue.

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has struck a devastating hit on Kamina's Gurren using Quad Beam Sabers.

Knock Out! Kamina's Gurren unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Kamina has missed Yazan Gable with his How Dare You Do That To My Precious Underling! Punch counter attack.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has struck a major hit on Brooklyn Luckfield's Grungust using Energy Explosion.

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has struck a major hit on Axel Almer's Soulgain using Hyper Blaster.

Knock Out! Axel Almer's Soulgain unit has become disabled!

For his trouble, Kyosuke finds a knife buried deep in the Weisritter's shoulder. It sparks and spurts, but it's nowhere near the vital systems, thankfully. The White Knight continues on its path most because it has no choice after zooming by with its own brand of ridiculous speed. When it turns again, it affords the ATX leader with an excellent view of his teammate getting /blown up/. That's some firepower the Randgrith is packing; Kyosuke resolves, in the near future, to not allow himself to be hit by it. If it can do that to a Grungust... He would, perhaps, be more worried if Excellen weren't already shouting and wisecracking and firing the Grungust's super-laser. He'll just let her be for the moment; he has someone else to deal with as best he can. "I don't know what you want with her..." Kyosuke brings the Weisritter rushing in again, forcibly yanking the knife out of its own inner workings and raising it overhead. "...but I'm still not inclined to let you have your way." The knife comes plunging down.

When the parking garage starts to go down, the crimson and black Zaku III scrambles backwards out of it, using its verniers to jet clear of the collapsing structure as if it were no big deal... because, really, it isn't.

What /is/ a big deal is when a Neo-Chevrolet Neo-Corvette comes sliding off of level four of the collapsing parking garage and crashes into the Zaku III's face, shattering the monoeye and burying itself in the MS's head. Johnny Ridden rolls his eyes in irritation - of /course/ it had to be a Neo-General Motors car - and the blinded Zaku III turns and runs for it, jetting down a side street and vanishing into the city.

This involves a lot of crashing into buildings, as the better part of Johnny Ridden's panoramic monitor is currently filled with static.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. You Forgot This added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has missed Echidna Iisaki with his You Forgot This attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has missed Kyosuke Nanbu with her Straight Punch counter attack.

Axel never looks at the Grungust Type 0, until it proves too late.

The blast of energy slams into the Soulgain and sends it flying. Armor burns and incinerates; it turns black, and pieces of ash and dust float away as it is caught and sent flying. The super robot launches into the air, arching up, and strikes into the ocean.

Steam and smoke rise from the harbor, where it hits, and rests.

"Graham!" Lamia says as that unit that was producing the voice of Mr. Aker sort of falls out of the sky thanks to Axel Almer. They're going to -

Perhaps it's due to being jabbed with enigmatic green drills; perhaps it's been Kamina's example; perhaps it is simply repeated exposure. Lamia skips past the sensation of despair and into the simple sound of anger. These people have by and large done no wrong that Lamia knows of. And now they are -

They are all in danger. It is perhaps to some extent because of her, but Vindel does remind her, helpfully, that in a sense, they were in danger anyway, and that acutely. Even as the Gurren staggers beneath them, Lamia guides out Vysa-Gann's legs to brace itself, watching the Zweizergain --

The sword is suddenly flipped over, past Simon's head, blocking that incoming strike even as she slings it around with a glow of yellow-blue light (the two colors combine somehow -- the shade is unnatural, a little painful to look at, but such is life), managing to catch that backhand on the flat of the blade. Lamia's eyes narrow.

"You could have rendered the same knowledge to them... but you prefer to use it for your own power...!!" Her tone shifts, flicking on the internal comm only. "Simon! I don't know if this will work well, please apologize to Kamina --" Because Vysaga lunges forwards, at long last, instead of simply letting Zweizergain swivel around her.

It leaps, then -- which may sadly expose Kamina to direct violation - soaring upwards with sudden, blurring speed up into the low-hanging clouds. They shield the machine and its uncanny agility from immediate sight for a moment. Thunder rolls.

Did she just run away?

It starts raining suddenly, violently, towards the central portion of Manhattan containing the Gurren Luncheon. It's like the clouds are giving up and deciding to just flop downwards, though the driving rain and gale winds likely don't cause anyone substantial difficulty beyond 'annoyance' and 'fire suppression'. Lightning flashes again, this time a bluer tone.

"GO! VYSAGA!"

It's not lightning. The Vysa-gann, its sword shimmering out with shocking blue and green, dives downwards, aiming to slice /through/ the Zweizergain and any of its shielding duplicates, performing a reverse backflip as it does. "Simon!!" Lamia declares, in case he decides to choke and let them slam into a building!!

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has attacked Vindel Mauser. Lite Drill added to their queue.

Kamina is sort of awe struck when Yazan manages to shrug off the drills. Damnit. The pilot doesn't let this stop him, attempting to smash into Yazan with Gurren's stubs. Unfortunately it is not enough. The final slashes wreck Gurren's support and send the mech crashing to the ground in a pile of junk. Chunks of the Gunmen fly in all sorts of directions, leaving Gurren's main body to just sit there.

"Tch. Damnit." Kamina struggles against the controls, trying to make them work again. Unfortunately, there is nothing he can do. he just hopes that Simon and Lamia can win this thing.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Lamia Loveless has struck a devastating critical hit on Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain using Lite Drill.

Knock Out! Vindel Mauser's Zweizergain unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Vindel Mauser has missed Lamia Loveless with his Code Kirin counter attack.

"Ah, that felt theraputic." Marcus sighs contently as he watches the Zaku careen off of buildings in a mad dash to escape. He isn't in any particular hurry to pursue either. His Atlas' armor readouts aren't looking that hot and there's no way he'd catch Johnny anyway, even with him bouncing off the walls like he were in a pinball machine. Groooooooowl "God damnit, I still haven't had anything to eat."

Ken Marinaris isn't sure how well the battle against the EFA is going right now it's pretty chaoitc and she's lost track of the DC's original prey. Ardjet knows where it is but Ken's a little busy and it's not dumb enough to distract her while she deals with someone like the infamous founder of the Ravens.

"Tch not bad but sorry this is where it ends! WISPS TO ME!"

More and more WISPs are summoned, they quickly encase Ken's machine and it's not long before there's a even larger build up. The entire blast is focused on ARchangel but before the cacoon formed he'd see the damage to the frame wasn't mending itself....

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has attacked Archangel. Cocoon Laser added to their queue.

The Ez8 runs into some turbulence on the way down. The lance of energy passes it right in front of the cameras, and Shiro is suddenly glad he only got one leg into his pants after all, because any closer and he would have to change them. He shakes against his restraints and feels the whole mech start to spin, something awfully fist-shaped striking him, followed by what appears to be /two more/.

The Ez8 takes a beating. The wind, lighting and sheer force of the trifecta of rocket fists pound it downward, trailing scrapped armor on the way. It smashes into the side of an office building and Shiro deploys the equipment pack on the back in a near-panicked response, dragging himself down the building mostly safetly and hitting the ground hard.

He'll have to remember that one for later.

"Rei, I'll hold off the Soulgain; see if you can cripple the black one! It looks like it's joints are easy targets if you can just get a clear shot." He pauses a moment, and then adds, sounding worried, "...and if you can't fight anymore, pull back. I'm not going to let you get killed out here. Alright?"

The Ez8 gets to it's feet and rounds the corner, looking up at the Soulgain. It brandishes it's machine gun like it was some kind of legendary weapon. "Back for more, Almer?!" He slaps a new magazine into the gun and lets loose, the weapon's thunderous booms echoing in the streets as he unloads on the super robot. "Get /outta here!!/"

Echidna Iisaki's head - and the Randgrith - turns to follow Excellen when she starts to suffer a physical defect. Well, the Randgrith does; Echidna is fine, if a little sore from being thrown around the inside of her cockpit from all her fast maneuvering.

The previously failing thruster fails again, and the Randgrith starts to descend. Nothing Echidna can do can get it to rise; she touches down, not lightly, and the building she landed on shakes with the impact. On the plus side, Echidna avoids being stabbed with her own knife due to falling, but then again, her return punch didn't work very well, either.

Perhaps remembering she is still holding a lit beam partisan, Echidna grips it in both hands, lunging as much as the relatively limited space on top of the building will allow. If she can clear Weissritter out of the way, she can try taking off again.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has attacked Kyosuke Nanbu. Beam Partisan Impale added to their queue.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has missed Kyosuke Nanbu with her Beam Partisan Impale attack.

COMBAT: Archangel has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has missed Archangel with her Cocoon Laser attack.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has attacked Axel Almer. 100mm Machine Gun Fury added to their queue.

COMBAT: Shiro Amada has struck a major critical hit on Axel Almer's Soulgain using 100mm Machine Gun Fury.

Knock Out! Axel Almer's Soulgain unit has become disabled!

Archangel tsks softly as he narrows his eyes. <<"Sorry lady, but I don't step out of the party early, I like to drum it up.">> Then when the blasts comes streaking down, he goes with his computer's advice up on the screen, or more correctly the flashing warning and the computer chiming with high energy level, evade, over and over again. Something he installed after dealing with the NEXTs really.

Once the smoke cleared the AC was missing again, however it slid around to crouch down on its knee from behind the Orbital Frame. The large gernade launcher comes around and is held up by his AC's shoulder and the AC's hand. <<"By the way, you have a wonderful voice..">> Was that a hit or just a random distraction? Probably a bit of both.

The Gernade fires, but as he does so, he clicks on a button to screw with the electronics around him and toward his target. He was not letting her get away this time!

COMBAT: Archangel has activated a spirit command.

"Sh--" Axel shouts, as he hangs airborne.

Insult -- and further injury -- is added to injury. The rounds rip through the Soulgain's battered frame as it gets holed and cut through by the 100mm machinegun. The machine slams down into the water, spray and steam shooting into the air.

Axel groans, as the super robot begins to sink.

COMBAT: Archangel has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Archangel has attacked Ken Marinaris. WC-GB230 Grenade Launcher added to their queue.

"B, bro!" Simon stammers, eyes widening as Kamina is, well, punked by Yazan Gable and sent a flyin' away from the Mecha Shiva Gurren Vysagann Lagann or, well, let's just call it Vysagann. He thinks about how Yazan Gable fights. He'll go in for a killing blow most likely, doesn't he always do that sort of thing? He can't just leave Gable be because he might take out Kamina. It's pretty amazing, the idea of someone who actually fights to kill their opponents.

Lamia seizes copntrol and slices through the Zweizergain, rebounding off a building wall--but Simon takes over at this point, guiding the Vysagann to land on Vindel's outstretched arm.

"You can go ahead and survive!" Simon shouts, "I'd rather live!"

And then he hops the mech back up, spiraling AWAY from the Zweizergain--Kamina's in danger, that's all he can think about. Bro's in danger, bro's in danger.

The free arm of the Vysagann erupts into a drill which expands, and expands, until it's nearly the size of the Vysagann itself. Lamia will find that, despite this, the machine's movements aren't any harder to control.

"Lamia--you're a better pilot...so help guide my Vysagann's drill--"

"Into that man's pompadour!!" The drill swings back as the mech flies forward, intending to rip right through Yazan's Xeku Zwei! "NOTHING IS IMMORTAL!"

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has attacked Yazan Gable. Lite Drill added to their queue.

Shiro's words rattle around Rei's head as she sputters and gasps and feels like her belly is being cut open in some sort of elaborate, unprofessional, unnecessary caesarean section.

Which is, coincidentally, what is being done to the Evangelion. 00X swings its knife to try and stave off the beam weapon's blades, but it's not enough -- the thing is just /gutted/, exposing the meat wrapped around and running through the metal. "GGGUUHHHKK!" Rei squeals.

"Not going to die not going to lose not going not going," the blue-haired Japanese suddenly jabbers back at Shiro, speaking so quickly that the words barely even resemble Japanese syllables, let alone English. "Joints targeting joints targeting position moving into position moving into joints ATTACKINGTARGET--"

This is when, of course, the Evangelion staggers forward, attempts to grapple against the giant Black Thirteen -- and then its shoulder fin breaks open, and it fires a shoulder missile point blank.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Evil Coop. Shoulder Missile added to their queue.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck Evil Coop with a solid hit using Shoulder Missile.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Rei Ayanami with his Taste The Back Of My Hand Foul Knave counter attack.

COMBAT: Archangel has struck a glancing hit on Ken Marinaris's Ardjet using WC-GB230 Grenade Launcher.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Simon has struck a devastating hit on Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei using Lite Drill.

Knock Out! Yazan Gable's RMS-142 Xeku Zwei unit has become disabled!

COMBAT: Yazan Gable has missed Simon with his Short-Range Missiles counter attack.

Unfortunately for Vindel, he is unable to generate the sort of maximum power burst necessary in order to unleash his greatest attack on the Vysaga. The two robots slam together with a considerable amount of force, and the Zweizergain comes out second - one shoulder is shattered by the impact of the blade on it's armor plating. The super robot crashes to the ground, sparks flying from the multiple locations where it has been damaged. Of more concern is the fact that Vindel is watching the power display for the core system of the Zweizergain, and it does not look good. Any more, and he will risk another overload - as interesting as it might be to see where they end up, it would strand too many of his people on this world, not to mention getting a number of them killed in the transfer. "Do you think we did not try tact and diplomacy at first, W-17?" Vindel asks cooly, the battered and damaged super robot rising upwards to look after the Vysaga. "Go then - see what you can do with words. Bring the clashes of this world to an end with sweet nothings whispered to those in power. You have intelligence and charm - go and try to change the world. Only then will you realize how small a single person is within it." There is enough stability left to arrange a modest distance teleport, and Vindel holds up one hand. A single flare shoots up from the Zweizergain's wrist - the withdrawal signal, for those who are able to escape to do so. And any not able to do so to get as close to Vindel as possible so he can extract them.

She genuinely didn't expect that to work.

Even with his attention on Shiro, with his bloodlust up, Axel should have been ready and aware of what was going on around him. "..whoa.." The uttered word is slightly awed, before the ache in tense shoulders eases off at least a little.

Then, to herself, "Screaming really does work.."

Not that she ever TRULY DOUBTED or anything but.. Well, it doesn't work for Weissy. Then again, Weissritter isn't a super. That thought stirs her back to paying attention again - she's aware of the intensive combat across this small stretch of city that her unit appears to be sandwiched between: Vindel and his rage directed at a 'traitor', and the 'Evil Coop' vs one of the Evangelions. For a moment, the rather battered head of the Grungust turns to look towards Kyosuke, still harrying Echidna best he can, before attention turns to Bullet's battle.

Part of her thinks she should stay back, let him continue this fight alone -- but a bigger part knows better than that, knows that they're a team. And teammates back one another up.

"Hit her high, Bullet!" she yells abruptly; the Grungust Type-0 groans as the abused metal protests, but Excellen is forceful. As is the rocket-powered metal fist that's forcefully fired at the Dominator over yonder. "Booooooost Knuckle!"

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has attacked Cynthia Lane. Boost Knuckle added to their queue.

The Weisritter, in stark contrast to the Randgrith, is still extremely mobile, the damage it has sustained not enough to slow the zippy Gespenst variant down. At least, not noticeably. Certainly, it's still fast enough for Kyosuke to be having minor difficulties keeping it on a tight leash. It goes soaring past its target again, not connecting but not incurring further damage, either. "It's still not exactly my specialty, but..." The A-LAWS ace has waited more than long enough to unleash, if not the Weisritter's TRUE potential, at least a hefty chunk more than he's used so far. With a flourish, the Oxtongue Rifle spins into the White Knight's hand, settling firmly across the flat edge of the knife, for stability. Squinting along the targeting reticle, Kyosuke mutters, almost as if compelled to by the machine itself, "Bullet mode." He squeezes the trigger, and the tip of the rifle erupts, sending a solid round screaming across the New York skyline toward the Randgrith.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has attacked Echidna Iisaki. Oxtongue Rifle B added to their queue.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Kyosuke Nanbu has missed Echidna Iisaki with his Oxtongue Rifle B attack.

COMBAT: Echidna Iisaki has counter attacked for a solid hit on Kyosuke Nanbu's Weissritter using Linear Bazooka Bombardment.

Bullet makes a valiant attempt to come to the rescue of whichever one of his teammates is in the most need of it, speeding away like some sort of... speedy thing. It must look pretty ominous, seeing that huge Super Robot rushing in, sword drawn, ready to rumble.

Until it blows up. At least, it sure looks that way, an explosion going off directly under the Grungust, obscuring the area with a light show, smoke, and scattering debris.

But when the smoke clears... it's still standing, upright and functional. It just doesn't look so good anymore, more of its armor blackened, some of it ripped off entirely. Evidently the force field couldn't keep absorbing the punishment that kept getting thrown at it.

And the pilot is just about ready to lose it. He's failing his teammates again. He needs to be there for them, or who knows what might happen. One already died, once... as it turns out, she may not have after all, but he remembers quite well what it was like when he thought it was. Never again.

Abruptly, the 'remains' of the Grungust lurch back into action, slowly, the green optics of the machine lighting up briefly as it turns back toward the Dominator. It's becoming quite self-evident that there's no escape, so he can only fall back on the age-old principle of his master's teachings: focus fully on the enemy before you.

The Calamity Sword is brought down to the Super Robot's side, and it bends its knees slightly. For a moment, it is completely still, waiting for the right moment. That moment comes when Excellen comes in with the assist - could Bullet somehow tell that was going to happen? - upon which it rockets forward, its pilot declaring, "One sword! One strike! DARKNESS SLASH!!"

The basic principle of the strike is not unlike the previous one. With the exception that the movement speed is several times faster, leaving only a blur, and the area around the two units seems to go completely dark for a fraction of a second, crackling with lightning as if in the middle of a thunderstorm.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has attacked Cynthia Lane. Darkness Slash added to their queue.

Ken Marinaris hears the suggestion from Coop. He may not out rank her but the truth is clear as day and he's right. It's time to go, the Ardjet takes one hit too many the frame lookling like a wreck and the barrier isn't able to stop the full force of Archangel's attack. The frame does still move disturbingly like it's alive and wags a finger at him.

"Later fly boy!"

She turns and flees at full speed.

COMBAT: Ken Marinaris has retreated from the area.

The sabers of the Xeku Zwei slowly stop spinning the second that the Gurren is taken down. The stop... but they do not deactivate. Hovering ominously above the fallen machine, all four sabers are held high as Gable props his head up easily upon his fist.

"Ever wonder what it feels like to get skewered by a beam saber inside your cockpit?" he asks the pilot of the Gurren in the most venomously friendly of tones. The sabers begin to descend.

"Since I'm such a good guy, I'll LET YA SEE FIRST HAND--"

And then, the Vysagann is suddenly bearing down on the Xeku Zwei, FLINGING itself from the downed form of the Zweizergain. Yazan catches sight of the machine the second it bounds away from the colonel's mech, beady black eyes widening. "What--" it comes in fast. And that drill is far to large to outmaneuver--

"Shit--!"

Rapidly, Yazan flicks through several controls. The missile bays at the Zwei's skirt armor all open up in sequence, unloading a full volley of missiles into the air; they explode, meant more as a distraction than anything else as the drill comes perilously close to making its collision. Yazan yanks backward on his emergency release hatch.

'NOTHING IS IMMORTAL!'

"Heh. Are you kiddin', twerp?"

The drill makes impact. The drill, even larger than the impressively bulky Xeku, smashes into the mobile suit like a bulldozer through a straw house the second that the spherical cockpit of the Xeku is forcefully and powerfully ejected from its torso.

"EVIL IS IMMORTAL! HAHAHAHA--"

The tone seems more mocking than anything else as Yazan's laughing voice is drowned out by the sound of metal shrieking out in horrific protest. The drill plunges in and through the Xeku Zwei, popping off the head like a bottle cap, shredding through its many arms and thick armor and sheering off slices of debris like splitting an apple into pieces. It reaches the immense thruster set--

--and that is when the Xeku simply EXPLODES, the rumbling fireball rippling throughout the city block; even when not from the reactor, the amount of force and heat expelled is tremendous as windows shatter and the street rumbles... and in the aftermath, there is only a smoldering chunk of melting scrap metal in its place, the aftermath of Simon's tremendous blow.

It is during that explosion, then, that the dodai the Xeku had flown in on lifts into the air, thrusters igniting as the jet-like flight platform shoots into the skies. Within, Yazan snarls, clenching his gloved hands tightly around the dodai's controls.

"I /really/ liked that knife," he mutters to himself.

Coop Cooplowski has seen a lot of strange things over the years, but the sight of gutting an Evangelion is one that is going to stick with him for some while. "Bloody hell," he snarls, whirling the Bat'leth defensively in front of the Black Thirteen as it backs off, Coop not wanting to get any of that...whatever the hell it is spurting all over his machine. He also needs the time to reorient himself and the condition of his allies - Axel is down, Vindel is pulling out, W16 is disabled...and their mission objective sounds like she's hauling ass out of here.

Leaving Coop to fend for himself. Alone. Again.

This is more or less as intended; Coop and the Black Thirteen are something of a terror, and the big man tends to act as a rearguard more often than not simply due to the massive robot's staying power...and its pilot's capacity for carefully contained and specifically applied destruction where necessary. Coop rolls his eyes as he hears Vindel's words of caution, and chuckles good-naturedly to himself. Vindel's heart's in the right place, but Coop has no intention of dying here. Just of attracting the attention of everyone else so his allies can pull out in safety.

The Shadow-Mirrors take care of their own. No matter what.

Coop hurls the Bat'leth back into subspace and steps toward the Evangelion as it fires its missile. The Thirteen's right hand whips around in a backhand blow that detonates the missile early, obscuring the ebon titan in smoke and fire. The thundering of its feet proclaim its continued advance, however, chunks of armour falling to the streets as the Black Thirteen charges, its plating shredded to pieces along its right arm and side. "Not bad, kid," Coop snaps, trying to punt the Evangelion up into the skies over Staten Island, pulling a large green tube out of his weaponspace and planting it down onto the earth, tripod legs springing out to stabilize it as the big man takes careful aim and drops a heavy-looking shell into the tube.

There is a soft *foomp* as the mini-nuke fires out of the mortar, its trajectory calculated to intersect with that of the Evangelion with the careful eye of a man who played way too much Missile Command as a kid.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has attacked Rei Ayanami. Weapons of Mass Destruction added to their queue.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has missed Rei Ayanami with his Weapons of Mass Destruction attack.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has counter attacked Evil Coop with a minor hit using If I'm Getting Nuked I'm Taking You to Hell With Me.

Archangel.. wasn't expect that. "..Well, that was interesting." He admits before the Ac stands up fully and rests its machine gun back like a soldier would with a rifle. He then turns his attention to the battle at hand and he has the AC scan the area. "..is the DC pulling back? Pitty.."

COMBAT: Excellen Browning has missed Cynthia Lane with her Boost Knuckle attack.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Brooklyn Luckfield has struck a major hit on Cynthia Lane's Dominator using Darkness Slash.

Lamia's grasp of the controls is firm, and while she may lack Simon's strange genetic powers, she has 'terrible robot strength' which helps her keep the Vysa-gann /on target/. Then -

Is it? Lamia wonders, as she swings the drill-sword around, as if to flick blood from it, and then slides it back into its scabbard, the Vysa-Gann straightening up... and then seeming, somehow, uncertain.

Lamia doesn't know quite where to go from here. "Simon... I need to tell the Federation some things. But... we must also help Graham, and your brother, and..."

She sort of trails off awkwardly, looking towards the Gespensts and the Weisritter, which is, she observes, flying like shit. Is Miss Excell feeling poorly? she wonders, with a squirt of guilt.

The Randgrith sits on the building, almost unmoving. It does not move when Kyosuke takes aim at it. It /does/ start to fire the bazooka as fast as possible as soon as Kyosuke moves inside its sights; rounds whistle through the air, damaging several other buildings as well as Kyosuke's borrowed mech.

It /does/ move when Kyosuke fires. Sort of.

As soon as the bullet hits it, the Randgrith goes up in flames so hot they burn white, not red. There is no way all of that damage was caused by the bullet; the flames burst out from every joint, every seam in the armour - and shortly the armour itself starts to glow with the heat.

The roof collapses as the machine burns through it. From inside the abandoned, probably condemned building, there is a horrific explosion as the remaining bazooka rounds and missiles all go up at once. The cloud of smoke is incredible.

Echidna herself is no longer in it, having exited as soon as she activated Code ATA. She has jumped down the side of the building to the fire escape, which she is running down, her dress billowing around her legs as she attempts to get to the bottom before the building falls in.

Rei Ayanami is going a thousand miles a minute right now. Whatever's going on inside her head, it's too fast for even her to process. Light feels like it's bending inappropriately around her, sound coming from both Heaven and underwater at once. Rei Ayanami is not familiar with this. Every time she talks, she stumbles and sputters or just sounds like a speed freak -- her voice literally cannot keep up with her rate of thought.

Of course, once you think /too/ fast, it starts coming back around and feeling like you're not thinking at all.

This is what happens when Rei Ayanami swings GN Evangelion Unit-00X's hands up and catches the mini-nuke. She doesn't even realize what she's doing until after the weapon of mass destruction is already in her hand, and by that point she's already moving, already dashing forward, nuke in one hand. 00X spews GN energy at a fantastic clip as the misbegotten monstrosity of a robot runs, tracking thick, faintly glowing blood with every pace.

It jumps, seeking to pounce the Black Thirteen like some kind of animal, boots digging into its belly, enormous long fingers sinking under loosened armor and keeping a grip.

The other hand still holds the nuke.

And then, thinking too fast to know what she's doing, Rei swings that arm down, seeking to smash the nuke's warhead right into the Black Thirteen's grill.

Which is a bit much.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has attacked Evil Coop. A Slight Case of Overbombing added to their queue.

As Simon expects, Yazan goes for the kill. What Simon didn't expect was to actually hit the xeku Zwei(gain?). That's a bit more of a surprise. Part of him was still terrified of the possibility of failure, of losing Kamina.

But that'll never happen, right guys?

Part of him says he should chase after Yazan's platform, try and take him down, kill him before he kills someone else, again, or multiple someones, again. He's a guy that says 'Evil is immortal' for Leeron's sake. He's killed nicer people.

But Lamia jars him back to reality and he wonders if maybe evil IS immortal. "Yeah," He smiles, "We've gotta look after our friends, you're right."

"You gonna be alright?" He asks, feeling a little dumb for gattaing with someone he didn't know too well--though, well, maybe he does know her from her actions, what he's heard, to a point--

COMBAT: Evil Coop has activated a spirit command.

COMBAT: Rei Ayanami has struck Evil Coop with a major critical hit using A Slight Case of Overbombing.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has counter attacked Rei Ayanami for a solid critical hit using Wave Motion Gun!

"I don't know," Lamia says, before

foom

She turns Vysaga a little to look at that distant mushroom cloud, and the tire fires that are starting in its wake.

"Hahah~. Oh this is too easy. Maybe you are kind of boring but at /least/ you make it look like you're trying!" Mockery aside, the Dominator, while damaged, doesn't seem to show it. The gelatainous body stays together, wounds being torn away and repaired with different muscle engines being shuffled in to replace them from other parts.

But still, you can only repair so much. "Huh, what!" Cynthia so eloquently states, twisting her head around to see the rocket-powered metal fist that slams straight towards the Dominator - and the massive blob ducks, the fist shooting past it, above it. "Looks like I'll get you then!"

Oh, wasn't the first Grugunst taken care of? Apparently not. It lurches forwards, the sword dropped down - and then /the penultimate/. "W-what!?" Cynthia pulls the Dominator back again as the blade blurs towards it, lurching across the Dominator's frame, tearing into the middle of it - and through. The two pieces fall to the ground ... defeated!? It lays there for a moment.

The jello is torn apart, into two pieces... and then goes pure yellow.

It begins to swell even larger - a mountain of yellow, towering over even the Grungust as it swallows the two pieces together. "Now, it's time for the ultimate part of my Overskill! FLAN ATTA-" It grows a damn mouth, lurching towards Brooklyn.

And stops, hanging there. "W-Wha.... AAAAH It was a timed mission!?" Cynthia kicks the inside of the overman. "I can't BELIEVE IT! I was about to beat both of you!" She pouts, sighing. "Well, I guess there's next time ... if you're not boring~."

The Dominator seems to implode, a massive towering mountain of flan becoming a around ten feet tall and a small oval. "Byyeeee~."

It shoots off.

COMBAT: Cynthia Lane has retreated from the area.

COMBAT: Fernando Albark has retreated from the area.

Shiro Amada has come to the conclusion that Rei Ayanami is absolutely insane.

The Gundam Ez8 moves away from the even-more-perforated Soulgain, deciding not to continue to waste ammunition on it. It chases the Evangelion at it's ground speed of 'not that great, truth be told,' since one of it's leg servos is acting up after it got pounded. It follows the trail of blood, reloading once again in case, somehow, someway, Black Thirteen and the Evangelion survive that.

After pouring all he had into that one strike, a counterstrike would've been pretty bad for Bullet. Even worse than he had imagined, when he turns the Grungust and stares into a /giant gaping mouth/. "GYAAAH!"

And then it just, sort of... backs off, the enemy deciding to retreat at just the right time. The Super Robot still remains standing there though, not moving an inch, completely frozen.

A nuke goes off in the background.

One of the Grungust's hands randomly falls off.

Only then does Bullet finally speak up. "...is it gone?" He may have been covering his eyes this whole time. Give him a break, /giant gaping mouth/.

"That was," Excellen informs Bullet after a very long pause, "by far, one of the weirder machines I've seen in a while," all while watching Cynthia and her machine tail it out of the area. Timed mission..? What..? Hrm, maybe she's..

EXPLOSIONS. Explosions everywhere! Abruptly falling back from her current position, even as Bullet's grungust seems to go to pieces, Excellen makes note of the departing/departed Crusaders. Victory...? A costly one, given the damage to the city.. Ugh.. "Yeah.. Yeah, it is." Still, the blonde pilot can't bring herself to let her self relax yet, though. Especially not with the weirdly modified Vysagathing over yonder.

Instead, the Grungust Type-0 keeps moving slowly, until it can get close to Graham's Masurao and stand guard. At least, until she's told to stand down, anyway.

Kyosuke pauses, and stares at the destruction of the Randgrith. Did he just...? No, no, that's stupid. He's seen this before, this self-destruct. This time is significantly easier to deal with than the last, when SOMEONE went up like a candle soaked in gasoline. His eye's not sharp enough to catch Echidna escaping on foot, especially when you consider a nuclear weapon is detonating in the background. It's diverting. The Weisritter, as a result, /diverts/. It hovers back down toward the two Grungusts, a watchful eye in the sky. "I see you two held up...well."

The mortar collapses to the ground as the Black Thirteen rises upward, staring at the Evangelion's movements. The big blonde is far too experienced with the ways of this world - and others - to say something so foolish as 'that is impossible.' But it is highly improbable that a robot, even one moving as fast as the Evangelion is doing right now, could pick a mortar out of the air.

Coop Cooplowski is irritated.

The big man checks his weapons and system status as Rei Ayanami descends. He selects a heavy shield from his Weaponspace, chunks of metal assembling themselves out of the air until they cover the black robot's left arm and a significant portion of its body in a giant wall of metal. Coop digs the bottom of the shield into the street just as the GN Evangelion connects, the mini-nuke imploding for a microsecond before it detonates, sending a wall of fire roaring out for only about three blocks in every direction before it dissipates. The shockwave and the flash of light go farther, and by the time those subside, the Black Thirteen can be seen staggering back, the shield and left arm simply gone, falling away from the robot in small, cherry-red and melting chunks, the chest plating splitting open.

Coop Cooplowski is angry. And he makes his displeasure known.

The plating snaps away, revealing the enormous ship-mounted weapon Coop has plugged into the machine's core, and he sends a brilliant wave of energy arcing up into the sky after the Evangelion, a beam nearly 40 yards in diameter tearing through atmosphere and fading into the distance.

"Should...about do it," Coop snarls as he turns and begins blasting away at full speed, dropping more chunks of robot as he goes.

COMBAT: Evil Coop has retreated from the area.

Vindel waits until anyone who is unable to leave the scene under their own power has gathered close enough to the Zweizergain to be caught up in it's field. There is a crackling discharge of energy... and the Divine Crusaders vanish from the scene, leaving behind a crackling, smoking spot on the ground to make their passage.

"Simon," Lamia says finally, and rather quietly, "please contact them and tell them I would like to give myself up."

She wonders if she should do it herself. But...

Well, you know, why make a fuss.

What happens is this:

First, Eva Unit-00 subjects itself to a contained nuclear explosion, basically frying itself, and causing Rei Ayanami to start screaming and more or less speaking in tongues, although those may just be the sort of crazy noises crazy people make when their brains die. Hard to tell.

Second, as the burnt, horribly mangled body of Unit-00 is falling away from what was once part of New York and is now /atoms/, waves of murder energy arrest its fall and knock the Eva backward, causing it to end up crashing, upside-down, into a hospital.

Thirdly, that hospital is now a superfund site, no bones about it.

Fourthly, the Evangelion lays there, Rei's screaming stopped, and a sort of numbness creeping into her body as the Eva shuts down around her and life support kicks in. It is like feeling the human brain slamming into a brick wall.

Fifthly: A weak radio transmission. "...lance five...?"

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rei Ayanami basically screams her brains out and makes noises like she's speaking in tongues but she probably really isn't. This lasts about the duration of a minor nuclear explosion, and then dies down.

"Been better," is the honest response from Excellen, trying not to pay too much heed to the explosions. Blue eyes glance about, before her lips thin, and she forces herself to straighten up in her seat as Zweizergain vanishes in a rather decisive manner. ..Well, they won't be following him any time soon.

"I'll..go ensure the rest of the area is secure." Funny, how you can look at someone on a vid screen and still manage to avoid looking them in the eye. "Call in support, and arrange for med-evac to come in for Mister Bushido, Meiya, and--" Oh god, the Eva. "...Everything else."

Cowardly, perhaps, but she'd rather leave Kyosuke and Bullet to deal with /the pilot/ than be here directly herself right now. And whether she gets permission or not, she'll start moving away fast as her gets can carry her.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Excellen Browning might be wincing, before she starts putting in requests for support teams and med-evac at site in NYC. Along with a tow request for an Evangelion.

Bullet breathes a sigh of relief, and collects the Grungust's fallen hand with its other one. He attempts to re-attach it. It falls right back to the ground. He frowns, must be a malfunction. Looks like he'll just have to carry it.

When Kyosuke remarks on their status, he waves with the hand holding the other hand. Well, he's holding /something/ up, at least. "Yeah, we had things... well in hand." Had to say it.

At least the Grungust can still walk okay, transforming's probably a bad idea at this point. So the Super Robot takes a leisurely stroll over to the one remaining enemy(?) unit. Considering how it never managed to get close, this might take a while.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Leo Stenbuck starts to say something, but apparently thinks better of it before he gets more than half a syllable into whatever it was.

"Eh? Well--" Simon hesitates, "...If that's what you want--" He starts sending out the calls.

Lamia settles back in the seat. She wonders to herself, philosophically, if they'll kill her.

She hopes they won't; she expects it would cause a great deal of distress for the people who - well - just came here... Graham, everyone... The approaching Grungust and the Weissritter makes her hopeful. Maybe Miss Excell will be understanding.

She frowns to herself. Maybe, she thinks, with a small sigh that may be loud enough for Simon to hear. If they let her give them the information, the rest is...

She frowns slightly. It doesn't feel as unimportant as it did in the past, for some reason. She rubs the back of her neck.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rei Ayanami sounds punch-drunk. "Lance-3, rep... orting? I'm... Lance..."

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Rei Ayanami transmits the sound of a human head slumping forward and bonking into a control panel.

<Radio: D - Joint Secure> Shiro Amada transmits, "Shit... Lance-3! Hang on!"

Shiro isn't sure what's worse: the flash, or the sight afterwards. He's far enough back that he doesn't get toasted by the blast, but close enough that he has to shut and shield his eyes. His cameras don't /all/ die from it; a couple of them sizzle and pop from the proximity's heat and an unhealthy dose of radiation (which either the insulation, armor, or lead paint on the Ez8 largely protects the pilot from, anyway), and Shiro is left cursing at himself, his equipment, and this whole shitty situation.

"Shit..." He forces the mobile suit foward. "Lance-3! Hang on!" Shiro's Gundam gets near ground zero, skirting around it and towards the hospital that the Evangelion landed on. He's not sure what he can do, but he has to try /something/.

"Lance-3--" Shiro stares at the damage. It's awful. He's shocked she's still in that mess. "I'm here. I'm right here. We're going to get you out of there." He sounds determined, the undertones of worry there just the same. He doesn't intend to leave her here; it's just not going to happen.

The Ez8's built-in geiger counter just completely flips out.

Somewhere in the mess of melted, burnt, and otherwise destroyed Evangelion is the still-intact plug, protected against this kind of thing because seriously have you /seen/ how freely they throw around N2 Mines in Tokyo-03? Shit's disgraceful.

In any event, though, the plug offers no further transmission, and the Eva remains smashed into the hospital, slumped upside-down like someone who died falling down the stairs.

Shiro is very glad that A-LAWS has an /excellent/ health care package, and resolves to make sure his plan includes shit like this for next time.

The Ez8's geiger counter flips it's shit. Shiro doesn't do the same, since that would be counterproductive. He's seen these things in one piece and multiple before. They had some kind of plug for a cockpit inside of it, and he's got a fair idea where it is, at the very least. Rescue and extraction teams are en route, but he isn't sure how well insulated the cockpit is against /radiation from a nuclear blast/, so he isn't going to wait that long.

Shiro goes about the laborous and ultimately messy process of costing NERV more money by digging out the entry plug so he can get it away from ground zero--or trying, at least. Someone will probably knock on his door disapprovingly later about it.

Only the Weisritter is really in any state to approach the Vysagann, with Excellen emotionally distraught and Bullet trying to make everybody else feel that way with awful puns. It jets over with a minimum of drama, settling down onto the cracked and battle-torn pavement. Flicking a switch, Kyosuke's radio crackles to life. He hesitates even then, ironing out the turmoil he's feeling. In the end, it doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with what he has to do, whether Lamia Loveless, his once-dead teammate is really in there, or whether she's a fake, some kind of sinister and (extremely) elaborate Shadow Mirror plot. "Lamia Loveless." Kyosuke's voice betrays nothing. He can't allow it to. "On behalf of A-LAWS and the Earth Federation Alliance, I'm placing you under arrest. Exit your machine and prepare for immediate transport."

A-LAWS? Lamia wonders.

She does, however, reach forward to open the hatch. "Please take care of Vysaga," she says in the comm to Simon. "... I'm ah, I'm sorry about the car."

Vysaga's head: Still embedded in Kamina's Harota Prius.

She steps forwards then, onto the little platform, wind whipping at her hair. She raises her hands gradually, placing them on top of her head, and looks straight ahead at the Weissritter.

She frowns slightly. Wait a minute: If they've put Kyosuke in that unit, then -

"It's okay." Simon says.

"...He doesn't know how to drive anyway."

Thankfully unaware of the strange thought processes that run through Lamia's head (like always), Kyosuke proceeds with his job. The Weisritter steps in close. Briefly, he considers the options; he could just grab her, but with the way he's been driving today... The chest hatch opens after a short pause, revealing Kyosuke, and also a gun. He gestures with his other hand. "This way, please." He assumes that she won't take it personally, if she's really her. Lamia's always been a pragmatic one, if nothing else.

Lamia leaps over.

Yeah, like it isn't a thing. She lands in a half crouch, hands still above her head, and asks as she steps inside, "Is Miss Excell alright...?" She does look back, sheepishly, towards Vysa-Gann.

Kyosuke doesn't respond at first, but this may be because he is busy closing the hatch and preparing to take off again with one hand (an invaluable skill learned when he was still at the pilot academy). Once he has sent the Weisritter flying once more, he finally takes the time to put the gun away and answer. "She's in good health." Technically true, and it skirts the issue of how worried she's been today. Kyosuke decides to add, after a moment's consideration, "She was piloting the Type-0 today."

"Oh," Lamia says, shoulders relaxing visibly as she settles into the little nook where you can cram a surplus body. "I'm glad."

A few long seconds pass.

She considers what to say next. What would Kyosuke be wondering about?

"I am not really a human in the same way you are," she begins, completely from a cold start. "That is why... At least, as far as I know."