In A New York Minute: The Gangs All Here

In A New York Minute: The Gangs All Here
Date of Scene:	29 November 2012
Location:	Manhattan - Harbor
Synopsis:	Unknown forces engage in a raid into the blackout area of the Harbor, attempting to acquire more of Xanatos' powerful laser weaponry. Surely this isn't going to go wrong at all.
Cast of Characters:	Deidra, Will Sherman, Tifa Lockhart, Quistis Trepe, Sarafina Carenze, Avira, LEXUS, Rinoa Heartilly, Aerith, Tom Magnusson, Celina Duvalis
Tinyplot:	In A New York Minute

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LEXUS has posed:
It's night time on the Harbor. The Harbor has always had a storied history of crime, betrayal, and backstabbing throughout its history.

Tonight is no different. Marines armed with laser weaponry guard the drydock, attempting to prevent any further incursions...

But even with the lockdown that Xanatos has put down, the criminal element will not be deterred. In the shadows, eyes open, flashing red for a moment. Wings move in the faint moonlight, as a clawed hand reaches to an arm. A device, arm-mounted, made of black steel and plastic with gleaming purple neon highlights. It stands out in the darkness. Quietly, nervously, the goons beside the man look at each other. It didn't used to work like this. It used to be handshakes in a restaurant, a code of honor within the world of organized crime.

But there's nothing organized about this. After most of the world was devoured by Darkness, much was lost. The Game has changed. And with the coming of the Shadow Lords, this has become a battle without honor or humanity.

The creature reaches to the device, and presses some buttons. There is a flare of Darkness, and pools of black spread out suddenly around the Marine blockade. Yellow eyes peer up from the abyss at the surprised guards, before they launch outwards, black snapping Heartless crocodiles appearing. From the alleyways, roaring taxis rush outwards, screeching deadly horns as they ram for the Marines. Gunfire sparks from the buildings as well, as Shadows in trenchoats and fedora fire tommyguns at the defenders.

The response is immediate. Lasers light up the night as the MArines respond in kind, but how long can they hold out? Emergency signals are sent out about the assault, asking for help from anyone who can respond.

Avira has posed:
'There was coin to be made in Manhattan.' Minerva had said. Sure, there was many reasons for a member of VALKYRI to be in this city, given the call to arms Xanatos had made recently.

Yet Avira had...other reasons. More personal reasons that she has wisely kept to herself, even from her fellow VALKYRI. Even from her fellow Twilight Detective Agency allies.

She's been in the city for the last day, mopping up random Heartless that she came across. Whenever she needed to rest, she just crashed on Mercade's couch, maybe battling Tom for it on occasion. It doesn't take her long to respond, even though she does so on foot.

Without warning, the sound of smashing glass rings through the air as one of the gun-wielding Heartless is pitched out of a building window. In its wake, Avira puts a booted foot up on the windowsill and glares triumphantly down to the streets below.

Aerith has posed:
She said she'd come visit David, and she meant it.

So here she was, heading toward Manhattan in order to respond to a certain message she'd received on that new phone, just to check in. The problem of course was the fact that she could already sense something wrong. The past few weeks have been enlightening at best, terrifying at worst, but the Voice has become stronger due to it, and now it immediately caught wind of something familiar, and dark, and very, very bad.

So she was inclined to head over, see what was what, and lo and behold... there they were.

A split second later, a sphere of flames bolted down into a group of Heartless, causing them to scatter like so many rats. From atop a building, Aerith stared down at the battle with a placid, almost serene expression. "You poor lost souls..."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will, as always, is at the right place at the wrong (or right) time. Perhaps it was luck...

Perhaps the TDA got a job about looking into strange things being stolen in the night. Whatever the case maybe, Will Sherman, King of the Hobos was there. A sleeping form sitting in an ally way as black forms start to swarm around the 'sleeping' subject...

Will makes great bait for his allies. He flips to his feet as one of the Heartless come down at him, flipping from his feet to right behind it as he spins around. He can see the twisted strings inverted on themselves. It is like static on a television turned up too high, but he punches. The fist punches so hard that it might come out the front of the heartless.

"Damn...this is...something else. The heartless have been getting more persistant lately." he says to someone near by, before he kicks out, aiming to send one of the heartless through the street and closer towards the docks. He pauses...then starts running towards the docks. "I wonder if there is someone directing them." he speaks to himself.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celine was taking a nice nap. Really. However, at the words, noises of what'sg oing on down at the docks, the woman makes her way down there. She is not the first - nor will she be the last. In reality, she mostly just hangs behind the more tankie members.

She pulls her necklace off, and murmurs a liquid string of Latin - ab aeterno intra, from the internal within. The two letters start glowing, silver and gold, turning into a tinted bronze that marks the magic.

Sliding the necklace back on, the somewhat glowing woman moves straight towards the shenanigans, her finegrs gesturing in the air, even as she murmurs something dryly in Latin.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
As promised, Rinoa arrived in Manhattan along with Tifa and Aerith, quite a bit agitated at the sight of the heartless, but not all that surprised given what they knew already.

With any luck, her message seeking help from Garden will have arrived in time, cuz they sure could use the back up! "I'm here to help!" she calls out to those assembled. She steps out on the roof top next to Aerith, Angelo at her side.

From this vantage point, she cannot hurl Angelo at the heartless, although she still has her magic. Aiming her blaster edge at the mass of darkness, she lets loose her sawblade that spins through many heartless, slicing into them, accompanied a moment later by explosions of flame and bolts of lightning that streak down from above, adding some 'oomph' to her attack.

she pauses a minute, glancing over at Aerth with an arched brow. "Poor things?' however do you mean?" Seems she has yet to learn all there is about the heartless..

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina WAS a bride at some point but she is probably not THE bride.

Nevertheless, she is a mercenary--in theory--and sometimes needs money. And that is why she is presently through no doubt a convoluted chain of employers--working for Xanatos in protecting his weapons.

She knows some here but probably Will the most. She draws out her Very Large Chainsaw in one arm and then dives in--not using it JUST YET but instead plowing through Heartless with her fist, punching through one and then another, snapping a kick at another--and so on--as she spots Will heading towards the docks. She moves to meet up with him.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart had been in town to check on the new bar's renovations, when she heard about the need for the guarding of weapons. Now, she's not very fond about guarding weapons out of all things, but on the other hand, it was Xanatos' weaponry, and she was a bit indebted to him. Better him to have those weapons than anyone else as well, so here she was, amist the ground of people ready to protect the contents.

She waves as Rinoa joins in, smiling "Nice to see you, I thought you'd be handy." She leans down to pet Angelo.

But that doesn't last for long when the shadows start attacking "What do they want with weapons..." She has to wonder, as she moves in to attack with the others. She mostly works into protecting her friends, being more of a melee fighter than they are. Although Aerith has been training well.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Manhattan. On the surface, it's a shining hub of progress. But as soon as you dig down deep enough you begin to find a roiling, cancerous, criminal growth wrapped around the city's throbbing heart. But even so, this city is Tom's city. To protect it is just a matter of course.

Not that he won't use a decent excuse to beat the crap out of the thugs dumb enough to actually cause trouble out in the open like this.

Tom arrives not long after Celina, rolling his shoulders and popping the thick vertibrae running down his back. "Dumbasses. Coming out like this. Attacking a Xanatos ship? I remember when criminals used to have actual brains." He flashes a grin at Celina as he emerges, and begins his slow walk toward the chaos. His muscles strain against the fabric of his clothes as he brings his hands together, locking and popping his fingers. "Well, let's get started then."

Quistis Trepe has posed:

On the dry dock's street side, there's a dry snap -

A crunch... chewing...

'Sweet Hyne,' Quistis Trepe thinks as she swallows the bite of New York style pizza. 'Zell wasn't kidding. This is astonishing... and I'm amazed he was able to say that about something other than a hot dog.' She takes another bite, then -

Darkness falls. People swing into action. Quistis Trepe, glory of SeeD, looks up and around, her mouth stuffed with pizza. A bullet snaps past her, smashing her glass of mysterious beverage, and she realizes rapidly that the street is a poor place to be. A quick crack and an unnecessary, but completely sweet, backflip later, and she finds herself on a roof.

Tossing her pizza crust to Angelo, Quistis remarks, "Miss Heartilly. I'm surprised to see you here -" A pause as Tifa lunges into battle, Quistis adjusting her glasses for a moment before taking them off entirely and tucking them in her blouse. Stepping forwards towards the edge of the roof, she looks downwards.

"Hm," she remarks, before squeezing her eyes shut. Then they open again.

Shrieking blue pencils of light smash downwards as Quistis turns her head, taking in the entire Heartless sea. "Perhaps they want to enhance their wave attacks," she speculates over the noise of irradiant Blue Magic. "This is already bad enough."

Deidra has posed:
The TDA was prone to sticking their noses into things such as tonight and with the gargyole it's more of a case of. She was not alone, Tom and Celine where here while herself? She was airborn and by fate Will had fallen into the chaos too. She swooped in towards the docks knowing things were about to get really crazy. She's meanwhile preparing herself for the fight ahead and may infact keep to the air!

"More? They just keep coming!"

LEXUS has posed:
The perimeter is breached as the Heartless scythe into the lines like feral animals. It's to the Marines' benefit that there's so much help at hand, because while they're good at what they do, the criminals planned for that.

No one can plan for getting suddenly kicked through a window. The Goon Heartless crashes to the ground, dissipating into shadows as it hits the ground. Fire erupts, but the HEartless scatter, using anti-area attack tactics to prevent Aerith from firebombing them into oblivion so easily. Either they somehow know how to minimize swarm casualties, or whoever is controlling them is paying close attention...

a Killer Taxi explodes as Will punches their strings of Fate, causing them to dissolve into nothingness as Celine begins weaving her debilitating spell around the enemy. Sarafina isn't from around here, but that doesn't keep her from being any less effective as her strikes knock Heartless around like bowling pins.

And then SeeD and their allies make their appearance. Rinoa launches her assault, the Blaster Edge slicing through them. The strong heart behind the attack allows it to cut deep, cleaving into Crocodile Heartless without trouble. Quistis unleashes deadly EYE LASERS, scorching lines through the night that flash into Heartless... But they quickly scatter before the Blue Magic can carve a swath through them. Tifa hammers into the enemies at close range, sending them flying with the power of Zangan Style Martial Arts!

This aggregated attack gives the Marines the ability to fall back and take better defensive positions, as the HEartless turn towards the new attackers. Goons turn and unleash gunfire upon the enemies, while the Crocodiles try to snap and hold down people with their powerful jaws, giving the Killer Taxis and Goons plenty of time to strike. The Taxis promptly catch on fire, burning with dark power as they try to run over their foes!

Aerith has posed:
Aerith staggered backwards, gritting her teeth as the flames struck home, yet she maintained her position atop the building. Okay, that wasn't so bad... Not too severe yet.

She puts out the fires and, instead of retaliating just yet, weaves a series of defensive spells around the blonde and Rinoa. She'd have to ask for the new woman's name later.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
"Oh." This one's going to be painful. The woman braces herself as she promptly gets enveloped by fire and darkness and things that make her connection to magic painful. Rocking slightly, Celina frowns deeply, soot in her hair.

She gestures at Tom, the Latin slipping from her mouth again as bronze light curls up around him, lazily. She also tosses him a bottle. Really.

Then she hides behind him.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Angelo rushes up next to Rinoa, barking in response to Aerith and Tifa..When Quistis makes her appearance, Angelo rushes over to her, apparently recognizing her from somehwhere and she barks in greeting. "Quistis! You got my message?"

She smiles a little hesitantly, glad to see someone she had started to call friend, and relieved to see that she is alive and well..Somewhere at the back of her mind, she still recalls their bittersweet departure at her house back in Deling. However, her relief at her safety overrides that for now.

Unfortunately, sweet reunions will have to wait til later, as they are in the middle of an intense battle. Heartless crocodiles lunge at her, and she leaps gracefully out of the way, climbing onto a higher ledge as she seeks a better vantage point to attack from.

Aerith suddenly surrounds her in protective magics, and she nods and smiles brightly at her, "Thanks Aer!" Glancing over at Tifa, she aims one of her own protective spells towards her. "Angelo, to me!" Rinoa whistles and the dog obeys as she tosses her a bone into the sky, and murmurs an incantation under her breath.

Angelo's own magic combines with hers as she leaps into the sky, pouring forth a protective barrier in the form of silver and golden light around Tifa.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks...

"Oh crap." he says, before being ran down by a Taxi, not quite fast enough to get out of harm's way. It hurts, as he groans and ends up being knocked somewhere near Tom. He rolls for a moment, looking up a bit dazed. "Anyone get the name of that street car..." he mumbles for a few moments, slowly getting up near the Witch and her meat shield. There was Avira...and some people from SEED? Okay...that makes things better, though he's never seen the browned haired woman before...but he knows Tifa!

"Hey Tifa! Over here!" he waves at the woman, before pausing... "Oh right. Heartless." he pauses, reaching out and seemingly grabbing...what looks like thin strings.

One leads to himself, one leads to Tom, and one leads to Avira. "Hey Avira, hold still!" he says, before the three strings started to...shine, before releasing them. The strings fade back into obscurity, as if they were never there.

"Okay that might help."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Bullets and flames and crocadiles, oh my! The heartless and their weapons pour down onto the Vespertine Investigator, tearing at his skin and setting his clothes alight. A crocodile barrels towards him. Tom's arms reach out, catching it by the open maw to hurl it over one shoulder. A taxi barrels towards him, striking him head on. He turns at the last moment to grab its bumper, the soles of his feet grind along the concrete, leaving long dark skidmarks as the flames lick at his body.

He makes a sound that sounds like 'tch.' And then Celina's spell wraps around him, healing his wounds and tearing the darkness from his body. Then, he feels a tug from Will's bizarre power, lightening his load. Good, they're here too. But Tom's got a job to do--

TOM'S OBJECTIVES CHANGED
1: Protect Celina
2: Protect the shipment
3: Smash Heartless

Tom grins. His hands turn from tools to weapons as he balls them into tight fists. "Alright, let me handle 'em. Stay close!" Tom roars as he presses into the taxi he'd been holding onto. His fist rises and then falls, slamming down at the car's hood. Then, he drives his leg upward, attempting to knock the vehicle up off of its wheels, before a final strike smashes into its undercarriage- hopefully sending it hurtling off into particularly dense group of Shadows.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Exploding taxis and ravaging wild shadows? Not for this barmaid. After knocking a few of them out of the way with her strong punches and kicks, she finds a overhead post, vaulting up around it, and then jumping to the second floor, near where Quistis was.

She smiles "Thanks Rinoa~" Receiving supprt from her friend. Of course, this is a bit too busy to answer everything, but she nods to Will "Its dangerous, help out or take cover!" She calls out.

Then she moves in for the next series of attacks. She jumps off the hood of a burned out taxi, bouncing into the fray feet first, driving her weight into the nearest one.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"We certainly did," Quistis tells Rinoa, with a confident smile even as she blinks off the 'high beams'. They didn't accomplish much anyway. "You can rest assured that we'll support you in this -"

A taxi of darkness smashes up the side of the building and slams into Quistis, sending her toppling into the air. "!!!!!"

Cloaked in fire, the sorcerous reinforcement of Aerith's magic does not get a direct response from Quistis. This may look like she's on a trajectory to a hilarious death; indeed, before she realizes quite what happened, Quistis herself shares this assessment. BUT

The power of the -GUARDIAN FORCE- lends her thoughts speed. From her pragmatic perception, the world slows down immensely for a few long seconds of consideration. (She can't move either... that one's Fujin's job.) 'If I'm going to deal with these things, given this kind of range of motion, I can't just stay on the defensive, sniping from the roof,' Quistis thinks. 'It's risky, but I'll have to move lower.'

She pivots around, kicking off the side of a building to land on the same table she was eating off of a moment ago, her hand going back on her hip. As she snaps her fingers, light flashes around her, followed by a sudden gout of hissing yellowish fluid from (apparently) her lips. This, plus some snapping of the whip, is accompained with, "Well! Aren't YOU pissy! I suppose you think you can just drown your problems in sheer numbers, right?"

Avira has posed:
Peering down at the streets below, Avira gets a good look at the incoming helpers. Of course, she spies the other members of the TDA there (sans Mercade, he must be fighting sewer monsters again) in addition to some of...SeeD? Well, makes sense, they did "owe" Xanatos one, didn't they?

"Hey Will!" Avira calls down at him brightly and remains, one foot propped against the windowsill. To Will, Avira seems to shine a bit brighter than usual tonight. It might help to not look for very long.

Suddenly, she ducks back in the window as Heartless with tommyguns from other windows open fire at her. She's able to duck inside just in time and goes completely unscathed. Scrambling, she leaves that room and bursts out into the hallway, careening into another trenchcoat-wearing Heartless. She stumbles for a moment and starts smashing it repeatedly with the Spine.

The tussel breaks down a nearby door and they roll into a second room where another Heartless sniper has set himself up over the barracade.

Just as the gangster heartless starts to turn around, Avira shoves her buddy into him, then continues to shove until both Heartless are pushed out into the streets.

Deidra has posed:
The marines have a chance to fall backa t this point fro the heartless thanks to the sudden apperance of a whole lot of people. She's pretty sure she spotted Acira in the chaos along with wait blond woman who has a whip and is using it quite well. It's good to know they are not alone but things get bad for her as the Heartless attack her even while airborne. She keeps them away for the most part not to baddly off even with the pummling she took. She pulls the spell book out and starts chantign in latin launching a array of spells to sap the power of the Heartless hordes.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Hm! It seems there's a Quistis there!

Sarafina gets assaulted by a Heartless, a crocodile heartless chomping onto her arm. She rolls around with it for several seconds, wrestling and pulling it jaws open, her rocketpack banging noisily against the ground. She kicks the croc in the belly a few times and manages to pull free but she's stil got some nasty gashes in her arm right there.

Stumbling back up to her feet she looks around. She can't quite get to her to say anything, however, She isn't so sure she's gonna be able to get Will's attention either.

But she tries anyway. "Will, is someone controlling these Heartless?" She asks before she starts thrashing out at a new set, she seems to be saving her chainsaw for the moment, but her power gauntlet is fair game.

LEXUS has posed:
The car's plate, as it speeds off past Will, is D3-51R3.

The problem with Heartless never seems to be killing individual Heartless. The problem is always killing the other 50 behind the one you just took out. But the allied forces seem to not shirk from that duty as Tom dives into the brawl, crushing a Killer Taxi and sending it spiralling back... Only for it to honk nastily at him and charge, while Goons lay down shadowy bulletfire upon the Muscle Wizard! Just in time though, Tifa hammers into it, crushing relentlessly into it with meaty strikes of Heartless-destruction. Heartless also don't obey physics very well, as is demonstrated when the Taxi drives up the wall after Quistis. Unfortunately, the only response to Quistis' taunting is an agonized honk as she launches acid at the Taxi in response, causing a tire to blow out as she whips it aside, sending it careening away. The Goon that Avira faces proves to be exceptionally gifted, as it ducks and weaves like a hard-boiled criminal, getting smashed through the window but catching the window-edge with a flailing, shadowy hand! Deidra's spells rain down among the Heartless, but it seems like none of them manage to take purchase... or she hits those that the others are just about to destroy. Sarafina's gauntlet hammers into the enemy, the powered gaunret crushing Goons with satisfying BIFF! POW! noises.

The Heartless counterattack does not relent. Crocodiles are everywhere, crawling up walls and around to try to capture heroic forces in their massive, painful jaws. The Taxis unleash highbeams of their own, creating pools of terrifying darkness that they try to ram people into while the Goons alter their strategy: They seem to be producing rocket launchers and are firing rampantly through the area, bombarding the entire place!

"Those idiots!" The shadowed figure says. "FOCUS!"

Aerith has posed:
The dark attack slams into Aerith's defensive ward, yet the effects seem to persist none the less. One of the comets knock her down again, and yet she stands back up on shaky legs. Right, time to change tactics. She immediately heals herself, performing the same favor on Rinoa and the woman with a whip, and what appears to be some unique magic.

Her eyes narrowed. For a couple of Heartless, these are awful dodgy... And so she waits for an opportune moment to strike.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Rinoa beams at Tifa, "You're welcome!" She lands lower now, peering over the edge as the sea of darkness continue to swarm towards them. They ram against the building, causing it to shudder and Quistis suddenly loses her footing. She gasps, running to the edge and peering down.

"Quistis!" Rinoa tries to grasp her arm but she's falling too quickly! And then..Somehow she catches her footing, landing safely below. "Phew!" She breathes a sigh of relief. Must be those GFs!

"I'll help too!" Rinoa is about to join the SeeD down below, determined to prove herself in battle, when another wave of heartless attack, crocodiles, taxis, oh my! Again, she manages to swiftly dart out of the way, leaping onto a nearby ladder, before hopping off the other side.

"Angelo, help me!" She holds out her arm, whistling to the dog who rushes at her, leaping on her blaster edge arm. Pointing at the immediate area of heartless before her, Rinoa unleashes her blaster edge and Angelo, along with a murmured spell that causes an explosion of fiery energy once Angelo crashes into the heartless.

Angelo follows with a rush of slashes, bites and strikes at the monsters as Rinoa deftly dodges their attacks, staying at a safe distance, preparing her next attack.

Another cheerful smile and nod as Aerith heals her.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina swears softly. Or... something. It's hard to tell when you're talking in Latin.

(It's probably swearing.)

She raises her hand, and thin rays of bronze light settle down around Will, Tom, and Deidra. When in doubt, she takes care of her fellow TDA members. She's good like that.

Will Sherman has posed:
A Jaw clamps onto Will which causes a scream to come from the young kid...or the young looking kid.

"Oh hey Sara-" EXPLOSIONS.

Will is now a smoking crater on the ground right now, who slowly is getting up and really not looking too hot. He groans, standing back up...and basicly /has had enough of your shit/ heartless.

He grabs the Heartless still attached to him, and starts to unclench it's jaws. Before his hands start to glow, aiming to punch the thing right across the head...

Then he dives right for a Taxi, aiming to repeatedly punch it, before turning to the same heartless...

Jumping right above it...and swinging his fist down with all of his might, aiming to drive the thing into a bigger group of heartless.

"Ow." he says, even as healing energies wash over him. "Need more then that if I am going to stay concious tonight.."

Avira has posed:
Trying to wrestle two Heartless goons at once turns out not to be working out so well. Maybe she should have just focused on one! Even though she gets it out of the window, it's STILL HANGING ON. "Why you little..." she starts to lift a balled fist, ready to bring it down on those clinging Heartless claws. Suddenly, she hears a noise behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she sees a trenchcoat-wearing Heartless with a freaking rocket launcher mounted on its shoulder. It levels it at Avira. Her eyes widen and she starts to dive for the open window.

She's not fast enough. The rocket fires and blows a hole in the building where Avira was standing, taking out the wall. The hanging-on Heartless goes flying to the ground below, as does Avira.

The huntress lands painfully on top of a wild Heartless taxi. Rather than lying there, dazed, she immediately hold onto it for as long as she can before she can safely roll off.

She doesn't bother standing fully, opting to jab her Spine into the ground, then aim her hands upwards at the gaping hole she just flew out of. Standing there is that gangster heartless, readying his rocket launcher for round two. Yeah, well, Avira's ice arrows are going to make sure there isn't a round two.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart stomps a wizard pretty hard, fortunatly for her, but that still doesn't account for all of those that were behind it. She gets batted out of the way, crashing back first into a wall, just under where Quistis is perching and where a taxi is climbing toward to, somehow. She rolls out of the way, barely avoiding another lunge at her, andshe's not standing around to wait for the taxi to get affected by gravity either, mind you.

She grrs as she turns around, sending a hard roudhouse kick toward the one that jsut missed her, sending it flying back into the ones behind it. She's not going to take it lightly either. She jumps up nearby crates, giving herself more leverage. She's going to handle those trying to climb the wall toward Quistis for now.

Tom Magnusson has posed:
They're everywhere. Monsters on the buildings. Monsters in the streets. Monsters brandishing tommyguns. Blasts of shadow and charging taxis slam into Tom, cutting through his lightly protected coat like a hot knife through butter. Underneath, his skin burns and smolders, turning bruise purple from all the abuse he's endured. But still, the strong man doesn't falter.

There's someone behind him- someone he needs to protect. He can't fail her now.

There's a honking horn. A taxi-heartless careens towards Celina. Tom's eyes go wide. A curse hisses out from between his teeth. Fabric whips across the concrete as Tom hurls himself into the monster's side door, sending it hurtling away at the very last moment. "This is getting pretty rough."

He glances at the other members of the TDA. "Mmng. Really rough."

Tom cracks his knuckles again. He takes in a breath, and then launches himself into a group of sorcerous Heartless. His fists hammer into their ranks like a hammer pounding on an anvil. He needs to break their stride-- somehow. The best way to do that--

Tom grabs one of the wizards by the head, pulls back, and hurls it into a nearby taxi. He peers at the vehicle with devious intent in his eyes. Maybe /that/ will work?

Deidra has posed:
The Heartless are eveyrwhere and no where there is one there's a 100 of them and they keep coming she rains spells but they dont' seem to work very well. She's on the move prehaps she slipped up on her incation at this point. The Heartless are on her. They are bombing her, boobing her very hard and she's nearly knocked out of the sky if not for a certain den mother's action she's likely be down on the ground at this point. She's unluahng more of her cusing in a depserate attempt to sap the heartless.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
A street car named D3-51R3!?

Sarafina always depended on the kindness of strangers. Will starts to say something but, then, explosions. Sarafina presses her lips into a thin line She cracks her knuckles lightly. She manages to mostly get out of the way of a Croc's strke, but not entirely--another chunk of flesh being ripped free from her arm. Hissing in pain, Sarafina strikes back wildly with her chainsaw, totally missing the croc.

She breathes out and closes her eyes--balancing herself, stepping back, trying to lure the Heartless on her into a false sense of security--

And then suddenly she bursts forward, revving the chainsaw noisily with a BRRRM BRRRRM BRRRM. Her jetpack ignites and she flits forward, intending to slice through croc after croc with the chainsaw, intent on sending a spray of munny flying down from the heavens like mana as eviscerated heartless fly into the air and explode around her.

In theory.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

On the up side, her attempt to draw attention to herself worked.

On the downside, see above. Quistis stares in momentary horror as a crocodile lunges towards her. "?!!!"

Being savagely bitten about the leg area makes Quistis topple off her tabley perch; the falling does not help, of course, when she also and suddenly catches fire again, having perhaps foolishly assumed that THAT was over with. Landing low, she aims a kick with her other leg at the thing's heartless little eye, wriggling loose just in time to see Rocket Launchers coming into play.

Fortunately they aren't as powerful as the Tilmitt Special. But past them, who is -

Quistis's eyes gleam for a moment. "Rinoa! Sarafina, everyone!" she calls, before her eyes squint for a moment. Sucking in a deep breath, she crosses her arms over her chest tightly...

Multiple things happen at once as Quistis opens her eyes and exhales with great force.

1. Her breath seems to turn into a torrent of high pressure water, aimed perhaps on washing away crocodiles. The issue of whether or not they'll just swim into her mouth is left aside. Perhaps she can devour crocodiles whole. It's not the weirdest thing she's ever eaten.

2. Missiles rise from her back -- somehow. The details are hard to make out. Counterbattery fire towards the rocket launchers.

3. (and best!) a single shining ray of intense white light towards that shadowed figure who was excoriating the heartless. Because what else is best against the dark than light, and what light is best - but a COHERENT BEAM OF LETHAL DEATH ENERGY?

After this, Quistis exhales, slumping slightly. "... I wish I could have finished supper."

LEXUS has posed:
The massive assault from the Heartless shows that they cannot be so easily pushed back. There is a yell from the Marine defenses as they are showered by Heartless explosions, but they carry on, laying down laser dire. Thankfully for them, the heroic forces continue to battle! The dog is Rinoa's best friend as it lunges into the Heartless swarm, proving to be a superior pet to the crocodiles, which immediately vaporize into Shadow. Will strikes with powerful blows, shattering a Taxi into nothingness as he crushes the strings which bind it. Avira manages to interdict the Goon with a rain of ice arrows, skewering it with a killer wave of icy doom. It explodes into blackness, sparing her from another blast.

Tifa launches herself into the fray, but every Heartless she strikes, there seems to be another there. They're running around her, swarming in a mobile mass in an attempt to confuse the martial artist and keep her blows from being effective. Meanwhile, Tom picks a goon and sends it flying straight into a taxi. It gets knocked offside and skids to a halt right in front of Tom, ripe for an Action Command! Deidra's magic is more effective this time, hammering down into the mass and debilitating them rapidly, making them slower and weaker.

Sarafina unleashes a deadly chainsaw massacre! The whirring blade cleaves into the Heartless, but the taxis part before her, only allowing her to shred through a couple of them as they see her annihilate the ones she can reach. The rest get the hint and spread the hell out, trying to stay away from the terrifying spectacle of the Western Wind.

The ramapging assaults of the heroes causes the HEartless to take pause. They regroup, pulling back and pulling around en masse in order to prepare for another strike. The attacks from the Crocodiles and the Goons are quick, glancing strikes, attempting more to simply suppress than to bring the enemy down.

Quistis unleashes a deadly force of Blue Magic. It doesn't need to make sense, it's magic! The firepower explodes straight into the Heartless, causing dozens of them to vanish while the blast of light streaks into that alleyway.

It highlights a hulking being with batwings and fur, a catlike muzzle with clawed fingers... And the strange device on his arm. He yells, forcing several Taxis into the way to take the strike for him. They vanish into hissing shadow and vaporize dramatically. "WE'VE BEEN SEEN!" He yells to his allies. "GET THE SHIPMENT!"

The terrible, mutated man and a dozen men with guns rush for the emplacement, using the Heartless as cover to get to the covered pallets farther in.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith's attempt to strike back was avoided, and she found herself knocked to the ground again. Right... that was enough for her. More than enough, in fact.

Aerith kicked the crocodile away before it could take a bite out of her face, stood, and resumed the task of frying them to bits. Because yes, even she could get frustrated.

Aerith focused her considerable will, streams of pale green energy flowing toward her, through her arms and legs, and into her staff. Every materia imbedded in her weapon lit up like a switchboard, and she extended her right hand toward the Heartless rushing the Marine emplacements.

Without a word of warning or a battle cry, a sphere of lightning blasts its way down from the building upon which she stood. Let's see them dodge /that/.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart came to offer support to Quistis, since she seemed to be in a bit more of a spot than she is right now "Let me handle things up front." She's not afraid of some crocs, no matter if they are heartless or not. She can't heal, but she can take a hit or two.

And to get the attention of the shadows... how about soemthing flasy? She rushes up the nearby heartless that are crawling up the walls, and before it can even touch down properly, gloved hands rushes in to punch the daylights out of it, hopefully toppling them down into those below.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Tom dives in front of Celina again, and she sidesteps the various Heartless bits that are flying past her, far too concentrated on lobbing two bottles straight at Will and Deidra.

She drops into English again - "DRINKIT!"

She talks fast. That done, she lapses back into Latin, anger burning in her eyes. Drawing two pentagrams in the air, her brown eyes blaze as brown-colored auras wrap around the gargoyle and her friend.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's not looking too great...probably because he touched Reize once, and that's taking some time to rub off his super luck. Stupid JRPG protags and their unlucky streaks. Will isn't sure how much more he can take, even with being backed up by the still not updated heal system. Seriously, it's like someone in development of the fighting system didn't put X-potions into the system yet. He'd be killing MErcade's wallet one stubbed toe at a time.

Will, back on his feet, grunts...what to do what to do...he considers his options, then...

Hey ... those guys...

He heard rumors about this but hasn't actually seen them before, which is strange...these might be his people. Hobos and all, yeah? But they were using heartless...but...hm...

Will leaps, aiming to try and leap through the heartless, there are still too many to get through without punching, so he's trying to smash through!

"Wait! What are you doing!? Don't you know the heartless are trying to eat /everyone's heart!" he shouts at the retreating figures. "Your's, mine, everyone's!"

Tom Magnusson has posed:
The crocodiles swarm in. More of them. It's like there's no end to these guys. Or at least, no end that Tom can percieve. But now, he's got something that /might/ just help turn the tide. He stands in the way of the shadowy tide, knocking the beasts aside with great swings of his mighty arms. Tom grunts as more wounds open up along his arms and legs where their claws rake against his skin.

Soon, he decides he's had enough.

There's a sound like twisting metal as Tom' presses TRIANGLE and shoves his hand into the Monster Taxi that had come to a screeching stop at the toe of his boots. The Heartless screams in protest as Tom's hand seizes around something firm under its hood. He grins, straining briefly before he hefts his new weapon aloft--

GET EQUIPPED WITH: GET CLUB!!

The taxi's engine growls one more time, in protest. It... Doesn't do much.

"Alright you bastards," he roars, rushing forward to interpose himself between the dark tide and the marines guarding the shipment. His flaming taxi club smolders around his fist as he charges into the swarming Heartless, sweeping it in great, devastating arcs. "You came here. You messed with /MY/ city! You should have thought twice! You should have checked before you did something /this/ dumb!"

"Because Tom Magnusson doesn't this kind of BS lying down! Now, I'm gonna give you all one warning: Get out NOW! Before I get /REALLY/ mad!"

Avira has posed:
Avira grins as she sees the Heartless in the building bamf into Heartless bits after taking those hits. She scoops up her weapon with one hand again. Though just as she does, one of the Heartless taxis glance her side, knocking her back down to the ground. Only now does she look a little dazed.

She's not so out of it that she can't hear that spotted mutated guy screaming about being seen. Letting her hearing do the work, she tracks him to the alley, only for him to leave seconds later as he makes a mad dash for the equipment. Pushing herself, Avira moves to intercept, leading with the brightly glowing light of her ice magic. "Not so fast!"

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Between the exhaustion of such an outpouring of force AND the counterattacks of the Heartless, Quistis staggers back several more long paces. Her body, buoyed up only slightly by Aerith's earlier curing magic, sags.

And she then breathes in deeply, glancing at the rather torso-developed woman who draws nearby for a moment. Not knowing Tifa, all she can say is, "Rough evening, isn't it?" before sweeping her bangs back and drawing out her whip.

She whirls it over her head and snaps it out with a forceful crack, followed by lashes towards the Heartless, even as she makes herself step forwards, stagger really. Aiming to smash at their feet, breaking some cracks in the pavement with some of the sassier strokes.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina takes a moment to admire the glorious magic of Quistis. She has to fend off another nomming heartless, and she's starting to tire since the bleeding isn't stopping, but she is reinvigorated once she spots someone, largely thanks to Quistis, HORRIBLE MUTANT ABOMINATIONS who--

--...who she could, in theory, have no issue with infiltrating and finding out more because she looks like a horrible mutant abomination. She thinks this over for a few moments and then takes flight with the jet pack--intending to just flat out fly over the Heartless--and make her way towards the mutants. With luck they might not assume she's an enemy. If they do, of course, well--that will make doing her job happen a bit more quickly. But she imagines a man like David Xanatos will be just as interested in these unusual people.

She also uses the moment to try and recover a bit.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra has not been fairing too well but it seems someone hasn't forgot her being in a log of trouble as the Heartless just do terrible things to her. SHe's beaten around magic? She's not sure if it is magic but it hurst none the less she's getting to be about on her last legs at this point. She's healing a potion she's picked up in tranverse town is also consumed. She really owes celina one after this. She does however start chanting again she's going to keep trying to sap the Heartless while her allies just unload upon them. It's bette than getting down into a melee with the hordes as she stubbornly keeps to the air.

LEXUS has posed:
Finally, a breakthrough.

The mass of thunder explodes down among Aerith, shattering through the group of Heartless and blasting several back to the darkness whence they came. Will smashes into the Heartless alongside Tom, the pair delivering massive blunt force trauma with the power of CRUSH. Heartless, like everything else, is weak to being crushed. Avira cleaves out at the mass of criminals running into the compound, and she neatly pounces one, hamstringing one with a cry and sending him falling to the ground. "OH GOD, DON'T KILL ME!" He yells. "I GIVE UP!" Quistis lashes at the Heartless with wide arcs, driving them back while Deidra saps their ability to fight back.

Finally, the Heartless mass breaks, beginning to scatter and leaving the criminals defenseless against the anger of the Xanatos-equipped defenses and the heroes.

Or are they? The horrible mutated man roars as he pulls back the cover on the pallet. "You idiots! Grab these guns and fight!" Revealed are a large number of plastic cases with Xanatos Enterprises logos on them. He breaks the lock on one with a swipe of a taloned hand, and pulls out a dangerous-looking laser cannon. "NOW THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" He yells, leveling the massive gun with his right hand straight at Sarafina above. He pulls the trigger, and the weapon whines...

And then it promptly detonates. The man screams as pieces of the device on his arm go flying as well, and he drops to his knees, screaming from the pain.

The others look at each other. "That asshole Xanatos trapped these things?"

"God, what a dick!"

The Mutate glares, yelling through the pain. "GRAB THEM AND RUN YOU IDIOTS! WE'LL FIX THEM!"

The criminals look at each other, apparently uncertain of what they're more afraid of... When they pounce on the pallet, grabbing one or two cases a piece before running for their lives.

But that's when something else happens. The remaining Heartless stop, staring for a moment...

And the remaining few turn towards the Mutate with the shattered device, watching him in silent unison.

Then they charge. The Mutate screams, eyes wide.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks...

"Wait! Don't sho-" Then the explosion... Will shelters his eyes as he punches another heartless through something painfull. He breathes, as they start to curse Xanatos, and Will slightly grins...does luck favor Will again, or were they even traped to begin with? He wipes the smile off his face as he starts to...

Shit!

The heartless jump at the Man, Will throws himself forward, not even stopping for a moment, trying to jump over the heartless who are going for the mutated man and throw himself in the way of the Heartless attacks, he doesn't have time to try and destroy them, he's only focused on taking the blows, and letting the rest of them take the Heartless out.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith grimaced. "The problem with controlling the Heartless... is that once you show a moment of weakness, your heart is in jeopardy." She sat on the edge of the building from which she'd staged her attacks. "I really do pity him..."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
The heartless charge a helpless man. A criminal, perhaps. But he is helpless, incapable of defending himself against the horde of monsters hungry for his delicious soul.

But then, there is a Will.

And then, there is a Wall.

A car-horn shrieks as Tom swings his massive taxi-club into the Heartless swarming the hopeless mutant. Heavy arcs of steel and shadow criss-cross through the air surrounding Will and his charge. "Agency!" Tom roars, "Fall in! We're not done here yet! Celina, help this dumbass behind me. The criminal, not Will. The rest of you, chase those criminals!"

"Kid," Tom asks over his shoulder, "You alright?"

Avira has posed:
"Hah! Yesss.." Heartless vanish into smokelike mist around her, unable to withstand their combined might. Avira is absolutely stoked by this and seems to be embolded, fighting just a little bit faster. She continues, even though the catlike Mutate screams surrender. That didn't matter, he could scream all he wanted, as long as these Heartless were here being hostile.

After one of the guns explode in the "mastermind's" hand, Avira finally stops, processing what was going on. "...wow, talk about some foresight." she comments, watching the battered Mutate with some amusement. The amusement quickly fades when his Heartless minions all turn on him. Sure, it was...poetic justice in a way, and yet...

...Avira could not just stand there and watch someone get torn apart by Heartless. She's quick to join Will in getting in their way.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
"Morior invictus, Tom."

The magic blazes around Celina as she murmurs the words softly, setting a quietly tired pace as she moves to assist him and will. "Death before defeat."

She looks at the Mutate, not unsympathetically, but there is a darkness in her eyes, especially as she goes to help him try... not to die, you know.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart was a bit far from the gun wielding guy. Fortunatly for her too. She looks over to Quistis as their combined attacks apparently cleaned up all of those trying to move up the walls. She winces at the explosion too "That couldn't be good."

But then, the riot starts, the heartless turning on the people. She agrees with Aerith on that, noone should ever employ those, never know what can happen. She looks over to Quistis "What do you think we should do about this?" She's not sure... these guys are trying to run away with the weapons though, so she jumps down after them.

Quistis Trepe has posed:

Quistis rubs her forehead. "I'm a combat specialist," she tells Tifa, "not a police officer. Whatever they do with their local criminals is their business. That said..."

She glances at the Heartless approaching that mutate for a moment, but the men with the cases are more worrisome in their way. She turns partially away...

And then back, eyes shining again. Shining with lasers.

*ZZZZZZZNRK*

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"Excuse me--" Sarafina begins. "Are you natives? I have a question--"

The Mutate points a gun at her. Sarafina is startled, eyes widening faintly. And then, of course, he pulls the trigger. She doesn't try to stop him though she may very well have just been saved by Xanatos's foresight.

"No." She says after a moment to Tom Magnusson. "Allow me."

She darts forward for the terrified Mutate who just tried to kill her, jetpack igniting once more as she soars forward, aiming to grab him with both arms and carry him up into the air. She is not especially gentle about the grab but she is careful to not cause undue harm or drop him, immediately, indeed upon nabbing the Mutate she rises higher and higher until she hovers in place, wings flapping to help maintain her position even if she claims she can't fly with her wings.

"I have some questions." She says. "You will answer them. Or else--"

She lets go--but catches him again at the last moment, grabbing him by the leg as she dangles him above the Heartless trying to nom on him---protected indeed by the very people he would have happily fed to the Heartless.

"I am not a member of the TDA and have no qualms with executing an uncooperative prisoner. I am, as your people might say, from the medieval era and we have different, as I'll say, priorities and methodologies from your 'era' of behavior."

"We will start with professional questions." She says. "And then perhaps I will ask some personal questions. First." She says. "Who provided you the device that allowed you to control the Heartless? And then, if you would be so kind, what is your intended use for these weapons--more theft?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith stands from her seated position and takes note of those getting away with the crates. She decides to do the prudent thing... and before they can get any further, she aims a Blizzara spell at several of them, aiming to freeze their legs in place before they have the chance to escape any further. "There, that should do it."

LEXUS has posed:
Will and Avira put themselves in the way of the remaining few Heartless. Thankfully, the heroes already broke the ranks of the swarm so they take only a few strikes before Quistis unleashes eyelasers and Tom meteor-hammers the Heartless Taxi into the last of them. The Heartless are finally broken in truth, sending them running into the darkness to harm no one else... for now.

The Mutate glares at them despite their saving him. "Don't think this changes anything. You guys just want me alive." He staggers to his feet... And then Sarafina becomes the Bat-Saw and pulls the Mutate into the air, dropping him and catching him to make a point.

He gestures to his back with his free hand. "You do realize I can f- OH GOD THAT HURTS." He pauses, grabbing his wounded arm again, growling. "I don't know where it came from. All I know is the Boss gave it to me." He narrows his eyes. "It's a battle for survival here. We need all the weapons we can get. You think the Heartless only attack up here? Also, there's a lot of people who will pay good money for these things."

Aeris freezes two of the criminals to the ground, causing them to trip while Tifa hammers into the other, dropkicking him and knocking him flat out.

The remaining couple of criminals scatter, watching the vast majority of their friends being taken down in an instant. They don't want none of that.

Deidra has posed:
Deidra is just happy tha the attacks are over? Or are they oveR? She's not sure but the injured Gargyole is coming in for a landing as her allies on the ground already get into the thick of things. People move in to try to save the person abotu to be devoured. No one deserves that really no one does, the criminals run at this point she's going to not let them get away as she casts a few quick ice spells to either chain them down or slip them up. Well the few of them might gert way but what can you do and it seems Will and Avira were successful. Then comes up the fast ball special? Oh dear...

Aerith has posed:
Aerith sighs and lets herself sit again. She can't help but overhear a bit of the... interrogation... and apparently, the woman holding this thing in the air is not averse to dropping him straight on his head. Then again, she has what appears to be a chainsaw... she could always make him lose his wings.

She shakes her head at that. No, best not to bother about that. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, hissing at her injuries. Time to heal up a bit...

Avira has posed:
Avira doesn't just passively take hits either. She fights back. It's actually a surprise to her to see other people backing her and Will up like Quistis and Tom had. What a pleasant surprise! The mutate is captured...and promptly lifted into the air by an angry Sarafina.

"Welllll...at least he's talking." Avira likely would have tried to intimidate information out of him, given the chance. Unfortunately, Avira's attempts at being intimidating always came off as adorable rather than terrifying. It was the height, had to be the height.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will's not looking too great...he takes a few more hits, but luckily Will and Quistis take them down hard and fast...he looks up at Tom and nods a bit shackily...

"Yeah...I'm oka-.." then Sarafina happens. Will stands up, frowning SO HARD at her right now, and then back at the guy in her 'care'. "Hi. I'm Will Sherman. You might have heard of me." he says, crossing his arms and wincing... instead he lets his arms hangs down. "Ow. Seriously. What the hell man? I mean...I agree with being able to defend yourself...but come on." he says, frowning. "If you came to us we would have helped you."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"Can you?" Sarafina asks. "I had assumed your body mass would be too heavy for your wings to allow flight, let alone gliding. Well, they can be removed first. I wouldn't want my threats to seem idle. Thank you for warning me." The news is troubling though, the very idea that this being could fly--though it is heartening that his wings don't sing or anything. That would be the worst. She doesn't argue with Will Sherman being a good cop though she also doesn't seem to be terribly bothered by the frowns. That sort of thing can be settled for later.

"I am certain David Xanatos would have been willing to arm you in exchange for the service of battling the Heartless or in another form of servitude." She says. "Nevertheless--who is your boss? I will set you down in one piece if you can answer me that along with where to find him." She says. "Otherwise, I don't know, I feel the monster blood in me churning, it tells me that you nearly shot me in the face and it makes me inclined to think of the possibility of you harassing David Xanatos in the future who, as it seems, saved my face with his foresight, so I am inclined to think of him right now, as you robbed him."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
The last of the Heartless are vanquished. Tom hurls his taxi-club into the harbour once the final pools of shadow bubble into oblivion. The taxi-hammer presumably then disintigrates, once Tom's done with it.

It was a good club, while it lasted.

He crosses his arms, doing a good job of not wincing when he presses on the bruises and burns on his chest. Tom glares up at Sarafina and the mutant, frowning severely. "Right, whenever you're done, just turn 'im down here. Don't do anything either of us would regret." His eyes flicker briefly to Will and Deidra. "Then we'll get fixed up and go grab some ribs or somethin', alright? We're not a kill-squad here. Justice has its process."

LEXUS has posed:
"Liar!" The Mutate hisses. "No one would help us. Even you don't go to the Labyrinths anymore. Traitor." He grimaces at Will, and turns his gaze to Bat-Fina. "We'll never serve Xanatos. You think he's so clean? Hah! He's the worst of them all. You guys are nothing more than lapdogs, paid help."

He turns his head away. "You're not going to kill me in front of all of these bleeding hearts." He says. "I'm not saying any more."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart moves over to Aerith's side as she ices them over "Well, that's good work Aerith. Can't run very far like that. Looks like a few of them ran away, but we saved most of them... Plus those were trapped right? Might be hard to remove it, for whatever they got."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith shook her head. "People are underestimating that woman." The flower girl nodded in the winged warrior's direction. "Just because you are on the side of right, the side of justice, doesn't mean you have to be nice about it. If he continues to provoke her... I have a bad feeling about his chances."

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"Indeed," Quistis remarks to Tifa and Aerith. Snapping out her glasses, she slides them back on as she rubs her side. "Gargoyles can be fearsome people, can't they?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith smiled. "Didn't say she was a gargoyle... she's something different altogether." She stretched her arms above her head. "Don't know what, but I'm sure I'll have the chance to find out later." Flower girl turned her head toward the blond and extended her right hand. "Aerith Gainsborough. I don't think we've properly met, miss...?

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"I'm Quistis Trepe," Quistis asides. "I'm with SeeD. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Gainsborough." She returns a reasonably brisk handshake.

Then she looks back up. "And don't judge her by that. She's been an excellent ally of ours. SeeD has a long history of working with other nations and tribes for mutual benefit."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart turns to Quistis as well, smiling, sliding fingers through her hair around her ear "I'm Tifa Lockhart. We were at the Balamb Garden fight, but we probably missed each other in all of the chaos there. Well, if you were there, I suppose you were if you're with SeeD though."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled. "I'm not judging her at all... just saying she's not a gargoyle. I've seen one... and that's not what they look like." She tilted her head to the right. "I doubt those guys are gonna get far with those crates... If that one big gun was any indication, he has those crates tracked and rigged."

Will Sherman has posed:
Will pauses...

He sighs... "You're right. I haven't. You know why?" he says, looking at the man. "Because I've been off world for the most of my time. I've been trying to explore the darkness, the crap going on out there...I've been trying to find friends I lost...and fight the heartless that's been coming in here.." he says, before looking right into the man. "THAT YOU'VE LET INTO THE CITY." he booms. "Yeah, so sorry for not being around...I've been trying to protect you..." he pauses... "But apparently I've failed that too..." he says, very very sadly. "What happened...?" he comments, "What happened to you?"

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"I think I did see you in the distance, but I was on the aerial counterassault team," Quistis says to Tifa, before just shaking her head at Aerith's statement slightly, folding her arms and looking back up. "Well, I suppose there's differences. After all, we're all humans, but our hair and eyes are different."

Then, "Yes, Mr. Xanatos seems extremely thoughtful in his preparations. It's encouraging. A lot of what you run into nowadays is all," her voice rises slightly in poor imitation of a teenage boy, "'I'm gonna go find the bad guy and punch him and that will magically and instantly solve everything! Believe it!'" Then she laughs, adding, "I'm just getting catty because I'm actually in pretty significant pain."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith placed a hand on Quistis' right shoulder and closed her eyes... and slowly but surely, she would feel her aches and pains fade as one of the materia on her staff glowed faintly. It would take a good thirty seconds before Quistis would feel any sort of relief at all, and Aerith opened her eyes. "Better?"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra comes down to see the mutate at this point she's heard what Brooklyin had said much about not trusting Xanatos either. The Mutant speaking up about this has got her wondering she however. Doesn't seem to be needed just yet she peers at Will for a moment. "Woah woah, you need to dial it down there." She flexes her wings a little bit making sure nothing's hurt. She's gong to have to find the other gargyole and have a very long talk to him about Xanatos. There's something going on and she's now very concerned.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart nods, smirking a bit at that "Well Mr Xanatos is more like a playboy millionaire, but he's definitely got lots of wits and charm. He seems to always be a step ahead of everyone in everything he does. He already pretty much had bought and planned on my bar's expansions before even meeting me. Its like he can read the future or something."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith smiled. "And now you see why exactly I want to learn from him..." She frowned. "I can't do anything like this. Just casting spells and hoping they'll do anything, or supporting everyone and mending them afterward." She turned toward Tifa. "For the same reason I asked you to teach me to use my weapon properly, I'm going to ask him how to use my mind with more clarity. You get it, right?"

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Celina shakes her head. Nope. Out of her depth? Not exactly. But Will has this well in hand. Instead, Celina idly keeps a watch on him and Deidra, in case either show like they're going to fall over.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
The 'Labrynths'. She considers. Is that enough? It's just a word, of course, but he says it like it's a location that she should know. Which means that he thinks she WAS at least one of them but apparently defected. That depends if the name 'Labrynth' means anything to anyone. Well, she thinks, how hard can finding people like her be in a city like this--should she take this name and be mindful of it.

"If you were as smart as you were brave," Sarafina says. "You would have never been in this position. But you told me at least most of what I need to know. I will be mindful of your cooperation."

She lowers to the ground and drops the Mutate at Will Sherman's feet. "Thank you for your assistance." She says, seriously. "You may question him at your leisure. I trust 'The Labrynth' will be enough of a detective organization of your caliber to make use of? I doubt they can be too tough to track at the very least."

She nods to Tom. "Your speech made it seem credible. Thank you."

Quistis Trepe has posed:

"Ahn! Can you do my back?" Quistis asks Aerith after a few seconds of warm glowy feeling. "That is an /amazing/ trick."

Then she muses on the topic of Xanatos, "Perhaps he actually can. It wouldn't be the most astonishing thing we've encountered. Though, if he can see the future... read minds..."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith shook her head. "I doubt he has the capacity to do that. He's just a man, like any other man. But he's a very, very smart one, and he has the remarkable ability to think ahead. Not so much that he can read the future, he has to have an actual idea in his head first, a concept. But once he has it, he can expand on it quickly."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Tom frowns. It's a deep, terribly unfortunate frown. "What, you think I'm doin' all this to serve some rich playboy in his tower?" Blood oozes from his wounds, then stops, as he tightens the muscles on his chest. "You think I put my life on the line every day just because he /says so?/" The man is lowered, Tom glares at him. "You've got a lot of balls. Your life might be tough, but to do somethin' as dumb as this, and then accuse us of being a bunch of yappy lapdogs just 'cause we're trying to /do our jobs?/"

He growls, "You don't know me very well. You don't know this Agency very well. Celina, patch him up. Will, let's get him moving."

He regards the woman with the wings, and nods his head, "Thanks for the help. We'll look into the lead. Now, once we've got him all locked down and we've cleaned up, I think everyone aughta go and do a bit of celebrating." He pauses. "Once we're done interrogating, that is."

LEXUS has posed:
The Mutate grimaces, continuing to clutch his wounded arm. "Let me go." The Mutate says. "The police aren't going to know what to do with me, and I can't very well fight missing an arm."

He gets dropped to the ground, and looks up at the others. Tom gets a glare from the Mutate. "At least you /have/ a job, asshole. You can walk on the streets without people screaming at you, calling you a monster." He looks at Sarafina. "She probably understands just what I mean." He straightens.

Meanwhile, the human criminals are rounded up and easily cowed. The vast majority of the shipment is safe, now, thanks to the efforts of the heroes.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will kneels down over the guy, while his friend heals the wound. "Look. I can come down there and we can talk...We're going to let you go, but I want you to get in contact with me okay?" he says, slipping the man a card for the TDA.

"I want to protect EVERYONE in this city." he says, "Alright?" he says with a smile. "You trusted me before, now is not the time to stop, okay?" he stands up and looks at Sarafina...

t"Yeah. I know the place...I've slept there quite a few times in the past."

LEXUS has posed:
"And if you were in our position you'd be doing the same thing, kid." The Mutate says in response to Will. "You need every advantage to survive. That's life. You know that. As far as what's happened..." He looks away. "You wouldn't believe it if I said so." He takes the card and grimaces at it... But at least he puts it away.

Will Sherman has posed:
"I'm a three hundred year old hobo." he says to the Mutate. "I know gargoyles and have fought a giant cave. I have seen much beyond this city.." he says with a smile. "I can pretty much believe anything...assuming it's the truth. I'm trusin' ya to be straight with me...so I hope you can trust my word."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina Carenze says, "I do understand. That is why I wish to meet with your leader and why I approached you nonviolently whereupon you promptly tried to kill me." Sarafina says. "This organization reunited me with my family. They might not be as streetwise but they are well meaning. And because I am so understanding--I ask that you understand this. Today you nearly lost control of the Heartless and they nearly killed you. If you keep using the Heartless, they WILL eventually, at the very least, turn on you. At the most they might destroy your world. You might wish to warn your 'Boss' about that."

She looks over to Will for a moment.

She squints at him.

"Three hundred years." She says.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith turned toward Tifa. "Look... tomorrow we're going back to David's tower. If he's taking visitors... I'm going to start having him teach me strategy. I hope you'll still be able to help me too with everything else." She tilted her head to the right. "Speaking of which... do you want to learn anything from me? I mean, this can't be a one-way street."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Tom stares down at the Mutate. "You'd be surprised what kind of crap I'd believe, these days. We'll talk about it once we're somewhere comfortable." He places a hand on Will's shoulder, "Listen to the kid. He's not joking about that. Besides, I know a thing or two about feeling like trash in the streets. Let us help you out- it ain't like it can make things worse."

Tom: Dooming this operation to misfortune before it even begins.

Will Sherman has posed:
"I didn't tell you that did I? Eh heh heh heh.." he says, with a weak chuckle. "I'll explain later..." he says, "And Hey! I am totally more streetwise than you are! Like by a factor of a hundred." He says, crossing his arms.

LEXUS has posed:
The Mutate grunts, and turns away. "Maybe we'll talk again." He begins walking off, when he looks back to Sarafina and Tom. "You'll get your chance soon enough." He says only slightly ominously. "I know about those things. But it doesn't change that you got to do what you have to in order to survive." He walks off, unless someone stops him.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hmmms as Aerith's question "Well, maybe I should brush up on some magic. I mean, I only know how to use my fists to fight, maybe if I could do something with magic. I can use materia like anyone else after all, but I never really trained in that regards either. I only use a few spells to enhance my attacks.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will stands up, and sighs. "Alright. Remember what I said. We're trustin' ya, so you better make good on it." he says to the guy as he walks off. He turns back to Sarafina, and shrugs at her. "You are young only once...but you can act immature indefintely." he says, with a impish grin. "Anyway guys...ribs?"

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina Carenze continues to observe Will.

"...I suppose that is true." She admits grudgingly.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith smiled. "I suppose I'll give you the primer then, but it depends on what you want to use and how. We can go over the details later." She turned toward the armored woman with wings. "So, any idea who that is?"

Deidra has posed:
Deidra just hangs back at this it's will's show however she looks over to Tom for a moment her eyes narrowing. She'll be good, she looks at the Muate as he walks off she's got far more in comn with him than anyone here save Will would realise. She lets the mutate go, there's no purpose keeping him here.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hms and tils herhead "That's Sarafina, we met a few times before, in better situations." She smiles "She's pretty friendly, I'm sure you'll get along with her just fine." Who DOESN'T get along with Aerith though, that's mroe the question.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith nodded. "I think I'll have to meet her... where's she from exactly?" Right now, the only way to get this information is from Tifa. And since Tifa seems to have been here longer, she's a good source.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart lifts her shoulders "Actually I don't know, I haven't talked to her all that much, but I've seen her around. We keep bumping into each other alot it seems."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith giggled. "Well then, the next time you bump into her, make sure I'm there with you! She'd be very interesting to speak with, I have no doubt about that." The flower girl stood, stretched her arms, and made for the nearest stairwell. "Come on, let's hit the hotel."

Tom Magnusson has posed:
Tom's hands slip into his pockets as the mutant walks off. He sighs, tapping at the stinging bruises on his chest. This'll take a little bit to heal, but they aren't too severe. Or rather, it could be much worse. "Right. So let's go get some ribs. I'm starving."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina, much like Broadway, lets nothing get between her and ribs.

Celina Duvalis has posed:
Much like a terrible, Celina makes sure salad is served with the ribs.